Simulation
by EmeraldTulip
Summary: AU. 'It's all just a game. It's just a sim.' That's what we kept telling ourselves throughout this whole virtual battle that could literally last a lifetime—we couldn't exit until the war was over. 'It's all fake, none of it's actually happening. We weren't given bionics, we're not actually in control of a bionic army.' But it's so hard to remember that when it feels so real.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** _Simulation_

 **Rating:** T for future scenes

 **Genre:** Adventure, drama, family, angst, mystery… the works!

 **Characters:** Every character will be incorporated at some point. Not a single character will be left out!

 **Pairing(s):** There are a few, but let's keep those a secret for now, shall we?

 **Summary:** AU. 'It's all just a game. It's just a sim.' That's what we kept telling ourselves throughout this whole virtual battle that could literally last a lifetime—we couldn't exit until the war was over. 'It's all fake, none of it's actually happening. We weren't given bionics, we're not actually in control of a bionic army.' But it's so hard to remember that when it feels so real.

 **Warnings:** There are some more intense scenes later on, but it's nothing much

 **Notes:** Yup, this is one of the big projects I mentioned! I have the whole plot, so it shouldn't be too long between each chapter. As I said, it's an AU, but actually, not much has changed. There's some stuff that's definitely different—like I changed their bionic abilities a bit, nothing much. It'll be more clear later on—if you don't get it at first, don't worry, it's meant to be confusing! I hope you like it!

* * *

"Leo, wake up!"

The boy groaned, eyes shooting open as he swayed in his capsule. "What, Chase?"

"We're almost late for training, come on! Bree's gonna kill us, Adam's already out the door!"

Leo cursed inwardly. Whenever Adam was ahead of them, they were _definitely_ late. And Commander S-1 would almost _certainly_ put them on garbage duty, no matter how long they'd known each other.

He hurriedly programmed the capsule to change him into his uniform—crisp white with black stripes, showing his status as one of the highest ranks in the whole Academy. Second only to the commanders, of course. Chase was waiting outside the door, wearing the same uniform and tapping his foot impatiently. Fortunately, a late-coming speedster rushed down the hall just then, and Chase flagged the streak down. The speedster, a girl named Danielle, gave them a ride down to the training room and dropped them in just as Commander S-1 got to their place in line, taking attendance.

"Adam Davenport?"

"Present!"

"Bree Davenport?"

"Present."

She stopped at Chase. "Mr. Chase Davenport. So glad you're joining us. Same goes for you, Mr. Dooley." She glanced over at Leo, who was next in line. "You must understand how important punctuality is, even in a sim."

"Calm down, Tay Tay," Leo said airily. "We're not late, so just relax." The whole squadron snickered—Leo was one of the few who could get away with calling Taylor a nickname, let alone her actual name. No, to most, she was Commander S-1.

She sighed, obviously frustrated. "Leo…"

"Yes, Taylor?" he replied, grinning.

She glared at him. "Never mind." She continued to walk down the line. "Caitlin Evans?"

"That was risky, Dooley," another commander muttered as he walked passed, trailing S-1.

"I hate to say it, Leo, but S-3's right," another added.

"Aw, really? Siding with Sebastian now, are we Logan?" Leo teased the second boy.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. Seriously though, even though we're friends, you know it's protocol to call me S-9 and Sebastian S-3 during training."

"Fine," Leo muttered, and Logan continued walking.

"Hey, guys, why were you late this morning?" Bree hissed, glancing over.

"His fault," was Chase's response, pointing at Leo.

"In my defense," Leo said, "I was on a mission last night and didn't get back until super late. Second, not all of us can be the Academy's top spy and sneak into class whenever I want to!"

Bree grinned, obviously pleased that her stepbrother called her 'the Academy's top spy'. "Fair enough."

"Hey, what about me?" Adam complained. "I'm the best soldier they have!"

"Something to share, Dooley-Davenports?" Commander S-1's voice suddenly called, and all four snapped to attention.

"No, Commander," Leo replied reluctantly.

* * *

Next came training, which was painful—for the newbies. Every month, a couple more people would be sent in by the people running the horrible game of war, and everyone tried to integrate them as gently as possible. And by that, it meant constantly beating them up during training.

Generally, the Commanders paired certain high-ranked with the newbies "so the advanced recruits won't stress themselves out, since they will be put to even tougher tests later", in Logan's words. (Everyone knew it was just an excuse so that they Commanders didn't have to babysit _every_ newbie.) It was _extremely_ flawed logic, in Leo's opinion, but he couldn't change the rules.

The month that a newbie was matched to a soldier was a month none of the soldiers were looking forward too. Unfortunately for the Dooley-Davenports, it was their turn.

That day, the door to the Arrival Room opened, revealing a few more kids. Commanders S-3 and S-9 matched each one to an advanced recruit, who would show them the ropes, train them, and all that.

Chase was matched to a fifteen-year-old girl named Kate, Adam was matched to a thirteen-year-old boy named Bob, Bree was matched to another teenage girl named Lexi, and Leo was matched to a tiny twelve-year-old named (and it was completely ridiculous) Spin.

"So, Spin," Leo said nonchalantly as they began to lead their charges around, giving them tours. "What's up with the name?"

"I lived in an orphanage," the boy muttered. "I got to pick my own name. _They_ seemed to find it funny when they attached a bunch of wires to my head, pressed a button, and sent me here." He paused. "Where _is_ here, anyway?"

Leo shrugged. "To put it simply, we've all been captured by that mysterious 'they' you mentioned, sent into a simulation—meaning we're sleeping in real life, and our brains are 'living' in a computer program—and train with bionic abilities for reasons no one will tell us."

"But… so you don't know what you're fighting for?" Spin asked, and Leo was almost startled by his perceptiveness. Almost.

"Well, not really," Leo replied. "The Commanders seem to know. I'm a step down from Commander, but I'll get there one day soon— _really_ soon. We try to avoid death, but it inevitably happens."

"But if it's a sim," Spin countered, "wouldn't you not actually die? Could you, theoretically, wake up unharmed in the normal world?"

"Maybe," Leo admitted. "We don't really know. The alternative is that we would die here _and_ there. So I'm not risking it."

"How long have you been here? And how long are we going to be here?"

Leo sighed. "You ask too many questions. But I've been here for about four years, since I was thirteen. I was one of the first, along with my siblings. And, if Taylor is correct, we don't get out until we win the war and complete the sim."

"Two questions," Spin continued. "One: who's Taylor? Two: who are we fighting?"

"Taylor is the Commander of Commanders, as we call her," Leo grinned. "Just call her Commander S-1 and you probably won't get disintegrated." Ignoring the kid's terrified look, he continued. "The war is against androids, created by some Virt-Life named Giselle Vickers. Virt-life just means a virtual person, by the way. She's part of the simulation. Anyway, the androids are cruel and power-hungry and want to rid the virtual world of bionic humans for good."

"You keep mentioning 'bionics'. What are they? What are bionic humans?"

"What you and I are, kid," Leo said. He held up a hand. "In the simulation, anyway. In real life, we're normal." His hand burst into flame. "I don't know who took us, or why we're in this simulation, but it's a fight for survival. Once we take down Giselle's androids, we can go home. And we'll be rid of all this war, and the powers…"

"What's wrong with the powers?" Spin insisted.

Leo gave him a grave look. "Trust me—it looks like a blessing, but it's definitely a curse." He didn't elaborate, just closed his hand and the flames went out.

Spin wouldn't leave him alone. "So, what can you do; what's your rank?"

"Well, I'm a Mentor. Second only to Commanders. And as my sub-rank, I'm a Ranger," Leo said. "I have super strength, enhanced speed and reflexes, energy transference, laser spheres, bionic eye scanners, and pyrokinesis. And, of course, hidden abilities—we all have those."

"What do I have?" Spin asked. "Or do you need equipment to tell?"

Leo chuckled. "Dude, I just told you that I have bionic eye scanners. I have the equipment right in my eyeballs." He grabbed the kid by the shoulder and his eyes flared blue as he glanced at the spot in the kid's neck where his chip was located. He pulled away. "Well, so far you have hidden abilities along with rapid gyration—super spin, as we like to call it here."

Spin shook Leo's hand off his shoulder. "Mean joke."

"What? Oh—the name." Leo had forgotten what the boy had said about the people who put him into the sim—rotten sense of humor, apparently. Giving a child named Spin the ability to spin really fast—that was just cruel. To take the boy's mind off it, Leo grinned wide enough to show teeth. "Well, I'll introduce you to my siblings and some of the others before we get started on training."

"Training?"

Leo raised an eyebrow. "What, with all the talk about war, you didn't expect to just be sitting back here all day, did ya? No, you're going to be front and center." Again, he ignored the petrified look on Spin's face in favor of pulling the child down the hall. "Come on, I'll show you around and introduce you to some people!"

* * *

 **So how was the first chapter? It's mostly just set up for now. More explanations next chapter, but if you have a question, feel free to ask! Reviews are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I'm glad so many people liked the first chapter!**

 **Stardust16: Thank you! And yes, it is. I'm definitely continuing!**

 **Susz: Yay, I'm glad you liked it! No, Logan probably isn't S-9, I just needed a soldier designation for him. But I think it works XD**

 **musicnotes093: You know, I honestly had no idea what that was until someone told me in another review. So… probably not. Actually, the idea is based on** ** _Ender's Game_** **a little bit, along with James Dashner's** ** _Mortality Doctrine_** **Series. And yup, much development! Leo is in a capsule because he's a normal bionic human here—at least, in the sim. And I did say I would get to** ** _every_** **character, didn't I? ;) Yeah, Spin isn't as angry and horrible as he's written sometimes. I mean, he's just a kid. So I tried to write him like that. Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!**

 **KillWilson: Yay, you liked it! And don't worry, that 'they' will be revealed soon enough!**

 **Dirtkid123: Thanks so much!**

 **Bye Felicia: Well, I actually wasn't thinking of The Maze Runner at all, but since you brought it up, I added a little reference to it here in this chapter ;)**

 **LRW: Nope, I hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it. But I suppose it's similar, except for the fact that this isn't a game, this is war. Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest: Thank you. And yes, I'm continuing!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Yup, you got it! And I'm glad you like it!**

 **ereader12: THANK YOU XD**

 **BeautifulSupernova: Well, you're definitely on to something there… and yeah, ever since I had this idea, that thought has been on my mind way too often XD**

 **So, to be clear everyone, this is not based off of Sword Art Online, it is based off of** ** _Ender's Game_** **and** ** _The Mortality Doctrine_** **Series. With a Maze Runner reference or two in there. So yeah, I don't own any of those, just to be clear.**

 **Note: There is one mentioned pairing in this chapter. That is all.**

 **Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

* * *

"And here," Leo said, spreading his arms as if unveiling a masterpiece, "is the training room."

The newbie's eyes were wide, and he turned slowly, taking it all in: the uniformed teens sparring with each other, fire and ice clashing, blurs solidifying into people, lasers being deflected by force fields.

"Well, Leo," a voice from behind them said, "Greenie seems to be enjoying himself."

They turned around and saw the Davenport siblings and the other new recruits. Leo smiled. "Hi, guys. Spin, these are my siblings—Adam, Bree, and Chase. Along with their newbies, as well."

Spin nodded slightly. "Um, nice to meet you." He focused on Bree, who was the one who had spoken first. "What's a 'Greenie'?"

She laughed. "It's what we call the youngest of the green rank. And that's you, obviously."

"Green rank?" Lexi, Bree's newbie, piped up.

"You all get ranked based on seniority and control over your powers," Chase explained. "Our uniforms identify us. You, being new, are the green level. That's the first. We used to have a yellow level, but we got rid of it."

"So what are the ranks?" Bob asked.

"Yeah, and what are _your_ ranks?" Kate added.

"We're the highest level, other than the Commanders," Adam said. "That's why we wear white. The Commanders wear black."

Leo nodded. "I'm what they call a Ranger. Bree is our top spy, Adam is our best soldier, and Chase is the brains behind the operation."

"And the 'Commanders'?" Kate persisted.

Leo shrugged. "Well, there's Commander S-1. Her name is Taylor. There's Commander S-3—Sebastian. Then we have S-9—Logan."

"Why the numbers?" Spin asked, scrunching up his nose.

"Well, we all get soldier designations when we come here," Bree replied. "Your number is both on a tag on your neck and a tattoo on your arm."

They all immediately checked. Spin, peeling his sleeve away from his wrist, peered at the numbers before checking the dog tags around his neck. "S-250?"

"Yeah. That's your designation. It doesn't really have much of a use. We won't really use it, unless you rise to Commander." Adam chuckled slightly. "Let's face it, that won't be happening any time soon."

Spin stuck his tongue out at him, but just tucked the tags beneath his shirt and shook his sleeve over his mark. "What are _your_ numbers?"

Chase replied to the question. "I'm OA-3, Adam is OA-1, Bree is OA-2, and Leo is OA-4." He frowned slightly. We used to have an OA-5, but…" he trailed off.

Leo knew exactly what Chase was talking about. "What've you got?" he hurriedly asked the other newcomers, trying to distract them. Fortunately, it worked.

Bob held up his arm. "S-227."

"I'm S-139," Kate added.

"I'm S-11," Lexi finished.

A voice suddenly called out. "Hey, we got another Under-Fifty?"

They all turned, seeing a spiky-haired boy dressed in black walking up. He smiled. "I'm Commander S-3. I must say, it's very exciting to get a new person with a designation under S-50—come with me. I'll introduce you to some people."

Bree had smiled at the young commander as he approached, but frowned immediately after his previous statement. "But Sebastian, Lexi is _my_ responsibility for today! I know it's a big deal to get an Under-Fifty, but she has no idea what's going on—she doesn't even know what her abilities are! I think it's a little much to introduce her to people like Tank."

"No, it's okay," Lexi said quietly, smiling faintly.

Sebastian grinned brightly. "See, Bree? It'll be fine. I'll fill her in, just help one of your brothers with their newbie."

Bree hesitated, but eventually nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

"C'mon, Lexi," Sebastian said, already walking away. "See you later, Bree."

The second the two of them left, Adam and Kate both _oohed_ at Bree. "You like him!" Kate exclaimed.

Bree blushed, but squinted suspiciously. "Wait a second. How do you know that? I never said anything about that, and I _know_ I wasn't obvious. And I know why Adam oohed, but _you_ …"

Leo stepped forward. "Let me do a scan."

"But _I'm_ supposed to be the one to—"

"Let the kid have some fun, Chase," Bree joked, cutting her brother off.

Leo's eye glowed blue as he looked at each new recruit in turn. He then closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Bob has super strength and levitation. Kate, you have a type of mind reading where you just get feelings, impressions. That's how you knew about Bree's little crush on Sebastian," he smirked at his sister before looking back at Kate. "You also have sonic screaming and—ooh, a Commando App!" He glanced at Chase. "Good call Taylor made, matching her up to you."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked Leo.

"Well, Chase has a Commando App, too," Leo explained. "Very few people have it. He can help you control it, since it's not too easy."

A group of students in red-level uniforms ran passed them at that moment, knocking Spin over. The kid scowled and stood back up, brushing himself off. "What's their rush?" he griped.

"Mission, I think," Adam replied. "We get alerts whenever there's trouble or a possible attack from the androids. Some of us get dispatched to handle it. Usually, it's orange rank and higher."

Logan suddenly materialized beside them—literally. "Guys, Taylor needs you at Command Central. It's an emergency!"

* * *

"Androids," Taylor explained grimly pointing at a monitor. "They're trying to hijack one of our transports to one of the outer bases."

"Outer bases?" Bob repeated—Taylor had reluctantly allowed the newbies to come into Command Central.

"Yes, outer bases," Taylor repeated angrily, annoyed at all of the questions. "This isn't our only HQ, you know." She turned back to the Dooley-Davenports. "I need you guys to go stop them. People are going to get hurt if we don't intervene."

"Right away," Leo told her, and they rushed out of the room, presumably to change into their mission suits.

"What can we do?" Spin asked eagerly, running a finger over the console.

"Hands _off_ , Greenie," Logan snapped, brushing Spin's hands off the equipment. "And we're _not_ sending you out there," he added.

"But," Taylor cut in, "if you wear these goggles, you'll be able to experience the mission out of the team's eyes." She opened a drawer and distributed said goggles. "There's an earpiece built in, so you can even talk to them."

Logan looked troubled. "Taylor, are you sure?"

"No, but we all know that in this simulation, we need to be ready. This will help, I hope," she explained.

"I hope," Logan repeated quietly.

Taylor had already turned away, putting her com link on. "Guys, I'm sending you the coordinates now. Your newbies are listening in, try to give them a little bit of a run-through as you complete the mission."

 _"_ _Copy that, Commander,"_ Chase replied.

"Now hurry," Logan urged, speaking into the mic. "You've got some androids to kill!"

* * *

 **I hope you liked the chapter, everyone! It's a bit short, but it's setup so the next one will be longer, I promise! It should be up soon, and reviews are appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay, I got chapter 3 done on time! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

 **LRW: Yes, The Maze Runner is a great series! Although I'd also suggest** ** _The Mortality Doctrine_** **Series, also by James Dashner, since it was a source of inspiration for this story.**

 **Stardust16: And here is what happens next! XD**

 **Dirtkid123: I'm glad you liked it! And that will be explained next chapter, but short answer: yes, he knows his siblings in reality. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Yeah, I had to put some Sebree in there XD And Chase may or may not have been referring to Daniel… we shall see soon! Anyway: Mission time!**

 **KillWilson: I'm glad you liked it! It was mostly set up until this chapter, though there will still be a bit of that. Mostly it'll be actual story from here on out. I hope you enjoy this!**

 **Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

* * *

"Leo, go put out the fires or it's going to spread and we're all toast!" Chase yelled as the four bionic siblings sprang from their small helicopter and raced across the top of the hover train.

"On it!" the pyrokinetic boy yelled back, already sprinting away towards the smoke in the back of the transport.

Chase turned to the remaining members of the team. "Bree, go into the train invisibly and see who's in there—we know they're there, they must have set the fires."

 _"_ _They did,"_ Taylor told him from Command Central. _"We caught it on tape."_

Chase nodded. "Adam, follow Bree in case you run into the androids, but _stay out of sight_."

"Alright, let's go!" Bree cried as she latched onto Adam's arm.

 _"_ _Is splitting up really such a good idea?"_ a voice—Spin's voice—echoed from Chase's comm set.

He ground his teeth impatiently— _why_ did Taylor have to let the newbies listen in? "Yes, Greenie, it is. Now please, stop talking. You're almost worse than Spike." Switching his attention to the task at hand, he knelt and pried up the control panel, exposing the wires that kept the transport a few feet in the air.

"If all else fails," he spoke into his comm set, "I'll shut down the train so the androids can't get the supplies."

 _"_ _But if the train falls, won't_ you _fall?"_ Kate asked.

Chase swallowed, hard. "Well maybe. That's why I'm hoping we don't have to resort to the fail-safe." Unfortunately, the virtual world seemed to hate him.

 _"_ _Chase, I think we have a problem!"_ Leo called.

"What? What is it?"

 _"_ _Well, the fires are green. I think that means that there are some chemicals in them. I can't fully put it out—my powers don't extend to that. I've got it under control for now, but we've got three minutes, tops!"_

"Okay, just keep it stable," Chase told him, mind racing. "I'll come up with something." He focused on Bree's comm. "Bree, you find anything?"

 _"_ _No, not yet…"_

 _"_ _Guys, the fire's getting worse!"_ Leo warned. _"I can't keep this up for much longer!"_

At the precise moment, Bree's line crackled and she breathed, _"I found the androids."_

An idea hit Chase so hard and sudden, he literally stumbled. "Leo, can you _redirect_ the fire?"

 _"_ _Yeah. Where to?"_

"Leo, send Bree your coordinates," Chase commanded, and there was a moment of radio silence as the transfer occurred.

Bree broke that silence. _"Got them—I'm heading your way."_

"No, don't!" Chase ordered. Sensing Bree's confusion, he continued. "Get the androids' attention first, then lure them to Leo."

Leo seemed to understand immediately. _"Then I'll melt 'em with the chemical fire!"_

"Exactly!" Chase exclaimed. "Then, I'll detach that final car from the control panel I'm standing next to, and we'll send the melted metal far, _far_ away!"

 _"_ _That's brilliant!"_ Bree whispered excitedly. The next sentence she spoke was loud and clear—and she was definitely smirking. _"Adam, go make some robot friends."_

* * *

The older boy complied, running out with a yell and knocking over two androids. Bree winced, though still smirking. The element of surprise was lost, however, once the androids just stopped being surprised. The two that Adam knocked over stood back up, and the other eight advanced. As their eyes began to glow, Adam did the sensible thing—he turned and sprinted away. Bree raced after him, her smirk transforming into a full smile. She was running. She was doing what she was meant to do; the _only_ thing she was meant to do in that simulation. The running helped clear her head. For once, she was… _free._

Once they reached the last car, she turned, deactivating her invisibility. "Adam, I'm willing to bet that Leo's a little busy and the door is built specifically so people with intangibility can't get through, so I think _you_ should open the door. I'll hold them off."

Her brother immediately turned and began to punch the door, leaving deep dents. Bree faced her enemies. The first robot took a swing at her, but she just watched as the metallic fist hurtled towards her—and went right through her. "Magic," she joked, chuckling. Then she launched herself at them.

She was actually enjoying enjoying herself, for once. Between training and missions and her brothers, there was hardly any time for anything _fun_. But at that moment, she couldn't have felt more _alive_.

Another android tried to punch her, but once again, the metal hand went right through her.

 _"_ _Whoa!"_ Spin and Bob yelped into the comm. _"Bree, how are you doing that? We didn't see you trying it before!"_ Spin cried.

"Actually, I _was_ doing it before," Bree said, dodging an android's strike before pulling back and smashing her elbow into a weak point in another android's metal plating. "And it's a side-effect of my super speed. If I focus, I can vibrate so fast I can pass through walls—or androids."

 _"_ _But how is that possib—"_

"Spin," Bree said calmly, "please stop talking. It's very distracting." She turned slightly for an instant. "Adam, how's the door coming along?"

"Just another minute," he muttered, fatigue evident on his features as he delivered another devastating blow to the door.

 _"_ _Hurry, I can't hold this for very much longer! It's boiling in here!"_ Leo exclaimed.

Bree jumped forward and flipped, landing neatly between two androids before swinging her arms out and sending them to the ground. Unfortunately, they just got back up and kept coming. "I can give you thirty seconds, Adam," she warned. "No more than that." She dispatched another android with a well-placed and forceful kick.

* * *

Chase could only listen helplessly to his siblings shouting through the comms, them screaming and dispatching androids.

- _Ha, useless again!_

"Shut up, Spike," he murmured after turning off his comm. That was another downside of his bionics, even if it was only a simulation—his commando app-induced alter ego wouldn't leave him alone. Ever.

- _No, I'm serious. Adam, Bree, Leo… so helpless, and in danger. And here you are, just waiting it out._

"Get out of my head!"

Chase could practically _hear_ Spike's overconfident smirk. _No can do, boss man. I practically_ am _your head._

"You could at least stop talking, I'm trying to focus here!"

- _Dude. You're pulling on a wire sticking out of a floating train. Not much to focus on._

"It's a delicate process!" Chase insisted, unsure of whether the app was being sarcastic or not. "If I pull it out incorrectly, I could blow up the whole train!"

- _Then you might want to pull it out_ correctly _,_ Spike suggested unhelpfully.

Chase let out a groan of frustration and switched his comm back on. "Is everything okay?"

 _"_ _My skin is baking in this heat, even with my fire-resistance!"_ Leo complained. _"Adam, you better open this door soon, or so help me—"_ the sound of a door crashing open interrupted him. _"Oh. Never mind."_

* * *

Leo shielded his eyes as best he could as the door imploded, shrapnel exploding everywhere. "Okay, get out of the way!"

Adam dove to the side and Bree flipped backwards, both of them landing safely in the next car. Leo saw the opening. He thrust out his hands and the emerald flames reversed direction. Quickly forming a lasso-of-sorts, Leo dragged the ten androids into the car with him. "Chase," he said, "now would be a good time to detach this car!"

* * *

 _"_ _Chase, now would be a good time to detach this car!"_

- _You can't do it, you know you can't. You're not good enough._

"You're wrong," Chase answered defiantly to the Voice. "I _can_ do it. I have to." And though Spike was in his head chanting _can't, can't, can't_ , Chase curled his fingers around the wire—

- _Can't, can't, can't…_

—and he pulled as hard as he could.

* * *

Leo heard the click and felt the car detach more than he saw any movement. Immediately, he released his hold the androids and scrambled to the edge of the car. He had already floated a good couple of feet away from the next car, and the gap was widening by the minute.

Bree rushed to the edge of the other car. "Leo, come on! You have to jump!"

 _"_ _Can't Bree super speed over to Leo and grab him?"_ Kate asked, obviously switching between perspectives back at Command Central.

"No, she can't," Leo replied. He looked down at the ground between the cars, focusing the small camera so the people back at the base could see. "Do you see down there? Thousands of volts of electricity mixed with some sort of nuclear energy source we don't even fully understand. If she steps down there, she'll fry—literally."

 _"_ _Ooh,"_ Bob winced. _"Yeah, don't do that."_

"Leo, listen to Bree!" Adam shouted, joining his sister. "Jump! You have super strength, so jump!"

Leo squinted, roughly calculating the distance between them. He backed up as far as he dared—lest he crash into any surviving androids—and then ran forward, propelling himself with his strength-enhanced legs. For one terrifying, agonizing moment, he was suspended in the air. Then he came crashing down. He barely had time to tuck in his knees and drop into a roll as he hit the floor of the train. He lay there, dazed, as Adam and Bree grinned at him from above.

"That was awesome!" Adam yelled.

"More like heart attack-inducing," Leo replied woozily.

"At least you're okay," Bree finished. She activated her comm set once more. "Chase, the androids are disposed of, the cargo is secure. The transport can continue its journey towards the outer base, and we should get home."

 _"_ _Great,"_ Chase replied. _"Meet me at the helicopter. Great job, everyone."_

 _"_ _I'm so confused,"_ Bob's voice came from the comm. _"What just happened?"_

"Taylor," Leo groaned, sitting up painfully, "Next time, promise me that the newbies are _not_ sitting in!"

* * *

 **Well, that was fun to write! XD**

 **Reviews are appreciated; and the next chapter should be up soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi, everyone! Sorry for the wait, I had a lot of stuff going on. But hey, here's another chapter! Replies, and then we'll go on!**

 **Susz: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! (And I already answered this question, but just a reminder, no. I'm not dropping out.) Well, sorry for not updating soon, but… I updated! Yay!**

 **LRW: Yes, yes it was XD**

 **Dirtkid123: I'm glad you thought it was awesome! Well, yeah. Chase doesn't like Spike. But that's to be expected, right?**

 **PurpleNicole531: Thanks! And yup! But those weren't the only androids, of course… anyway, yeah, I'm can't** ** _hurt_** **Leo, right? Well, actually, I can't promise that… Uh, moving on!**

 **ereader12: Thank you! And yeah, totally—I pretty much based their commentary on my sister while watching a sports game :P**

 **Bye Felicia: Totally! Babysitting is hard, you know XD**

 **LIZBROWN6979: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! I am certainly trying to keep it up!**

 **KillWilson: I'm very glad you liked it! And oh my gosh, that's one of the best compliments I've ever been given! Honestly, I always have a hard time coming up with original story lines that don't relate to something I've seen or read already. So yeah, it's hard. But thank you, that comment made my day!**

 **So, this chapter will be filler… sort of. There's going to be a** ** _lot_** **told about our characters' pasts, and I'm going to throw a few hints about their future—and you're not going to see it coming until it comes to pass! Ha, I feel so evil…**

* * *

"Never again," Leo growled, pointedly tearing the camera from the sleeve of his mission suit as the team marched back into Mission Command. "Taylor, I swear…"

She held up her hands. "Hey, I was just doing what I thought would be helpful."

"Yeah, but you did the opposite, which is _not_ help. The not makes it the opposite. Anyway, we almost died!" Adam pointed out.

Chase looked pale, as if he was fighting off something internally. "I think the stress and all their interference brought Spike up to the surface," he murmured, wincing and running a hand through his hair, gingerly rubbing his temple.

"Spike?" Spin repeated. "What's that?"

"Not what, but who," Chase corrected him. "It's like a glitch in my bionics. An alter ego; a voice. He sometimes talks in my head, reminds me of what I've lost, who I've failed…"

Bree sighed. "Chase, you beat yourself too much over this. You haven't failed anyone—"

"What about Daniel and Marcus, huh, Bree?" Chase retorted. "What about them? I _did_ fail them. I know I did." He let out a long breath and sank into a chair, burying his face in his hands.

"Daniel and Marcus?" Bob repeated. "Who are they?"

"Our brothers," Leo sighed. "It's a long story, but basically, Douglas Davenport is Adam, Bree, and Chase's dad. After a lab accident—he's a scientist—he was presumed dead and Donald Davenport, his brother, legally adopted them three. He married my mom a few years after that. The Douglas came back with Daniel and Marcus, who were the youngest of his kids and were put up for adoption since Donald Davenport didn't find them."

"What happened to them, then?" Kate inquired. "Chase can't be blaming himself for something that happened to them when they were just _kids_. Especially when everything seemed fine."

Leo bit his lip, obviously trying to phrase it correctly. "Well, no. Chase is upset because… because they were supposed to be sent into the sim with us. But something went wrong during the prep, and suddenly, they were… gone."

"We had been captured," Bree elaborated. "All six of us. We were being forced into the knockout chamber—the one we all have to go through before being sent here. We were all inside, and then we all got gassed. We woke up in the sim, just like you guys did, but Daniel and Marcus weren't with us. They never showed up… so we knew. They're dead, they must be, and Chase blames himself for not saving them."

"And the OA-5 you mentioned earlier—"

"Was Daniel," Adam confirmed. "Marcus was branded something else—like R-1 or something like that." His expression saddened. "I miss them."

"We've all had tough lives, for the most part," Taylor said softly.

"What happened to you, Taylor?" Kate asked, voice quiet. "I can sense the anger, the sense of abandonment…"

"I never knew my dad," she murmured. "I only had my mom. Even so, I was taken when I was about ten, so I didn't have much time with her." She sighed. "I've been resentful towards my father for years. If he hadn't left, would I have been taken?" She shook her head. "I ask myself that every day. But, they've had it worst," she said, gesturing at the Dooley-Davenport siblings.

"I lived in an orphanage," Spin offered. "I never knew my parents. I know how it feels, to be angry like that."

Kate shrugged helplessly. "I… don't have a story like that." Bob nodded in agreement.

"Consider yourselves lucky," Chase muttered as he glanced up, still pale and sick-looking. "Hope that a story like ours never enters your lives."

* * *

"You know, you seem so familiar, but I can't quite place it," Sebastian mused as he led Lexi towards the observation deck overlooking the training room.

"I could say the same thing about you," she replied.

"I'm serious!" Sebastian exclaimed. "I feel like I know you from somewhere… my childhood, maybe."

"I'm serious, too," Lexi grinned. "It's like… you're my brother or cousin or something. I'm getting that vibe." Turning, she glanced through the glass, looking down at the hundreds of soldiers sparring and firing at targets. "Now, since you claim you can do a better job being a tour guide than your little _girlfriend_ , why don't you prove it?"

"Bree's not my girlfriend," he protested immediately, though his thoughts were elsewhere. _This familiarity… it can't be a coincidence._

"Whatever you say, Commander," Lexi said innocently, her grin only widening. "So, are we going?" As she swept out of the room, Sebastian made a split-second decision and pulled a single dark hair from her ponytail. She didn't seem to notice. Grabbing a thin vial off of a nearby console, he placed the hair inside and slipped it in his pocket before following the very familiar girl out of the room.

* * *

"You okay?"

Chase opened his eyes with a groan, staring up at Leo. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

Leo arched an eyebrow. "Because you fell asleep on the couch instead of in your capsule. And you _hate_ the couch!"

Chase glanced down, registering his situation. "Oh."

"Wow, you're really messed up right now, aren't you?" Leo continued, sitting down on the arm of the couch. "How much damage did Spike do?" His face changed into a look of slight horror. "You didn't completely Spike out, did you?"

Chase shook his head. "No, no. He just… broke free for a little bit, messed with my head while I was on top of the train."

"I'm sorry, Chase," Leo murmured. "I can't imagine how hard it is to deal with him all the time."

"No, it's fine," Chase assured him. "It's getting better already."

 _-Really? Lying to your brother? For shame, Chase!_

The boy genius managed to contain his wince, though the words cut pretty deep. "You should go to sleep, Leo."

"You should, too," Leo replied, standing. "Bree and Adam are already sleeping, and I think a little shut-eye would probably help suppress Spike."

 _-You wish, Fireboy._

 _Stop insulting Leo,_ Chase retorted mentally. _One, he can't hear you, two, it's not cool, and three, it's making_ me _want to say that!_ Out loud, he nodded and said, "Of course, Leo." Taking Leo's extended hand and pulling himself up, he swayed slightly, trying to shake Spike from his mind. Suddenly, the mission alarm began to blare—Adam and Bree didn't even stir in their soundproof capsules.

" _Another_ mission?" Leo asked incredulously. "And for us again, this time?"

"I better wake up Bree and Adam," Chase said, already making a beeline towards his siblings.

"No," Leo suddenly stopped him. "I just read through the mission, it doesn't look like we need them. It's a simple scouting mission at an abandoned government facility, and we only need our bionic eye scanners. Although we might want to take a geoleaper or two…" Pulling a com link from his pocket, he spoke into it. "Taylor, Logan? I assume you saw the alert. Adam and Bree aren't needed for this, but we could use your help on this one. We'll meet you in Command Central in five minutes." Clicking it off, he turned to Chase. "We're going to have to hold off on that sleep. We gotta go, let's suit up!"

* * *

 **Sorry for the short chapter, it's more setup for the next one. But I _did_ reveal a ton about their pasts, you just have to really look closely to see it. I'd love some reviews, if at all possible! I hope you enjoyed, everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh, my dear _Simulation_ , it's been too long! XD**

 **In all seriousness, it's good to be back to this story. Life's been crazy, ya'll know how it is. I was also working a lot on _Across The Universe(s)_ , which is probably my current favorite one-shot. Anyway, replies and we'll get right to the chapter!**

 **Susz: I'm glad you liked it! Yes, everyone's had tough lives. BUT! There's a reason for that, so keep looking for that!**

 **LRW: Yes, I'm pretty sure my love of Marcus shows in… well, a lot of chapters, but this one especially. You'll see why. Anyway, yes, that's the beauty of this being AU. I don't have to listen to the actual LR timeline! XD**

 **Dirtkid123: Yes, although Sebastian only has his suspicions, no real evidence they're related. It's just a hunch on his part. Anyway, we have a lot of 'Chasey flipping out' in this chapter, so… enjoy!**

 **LIZBROWN6979: Thank you!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Once again, we have an action-packed chapter! So yes, you'll be getting to read the mission. Also, yes, their pasts were fun to write, even if they were kinda depressing. So, without giving anything away, the Dooley-Davenport siblings truly, deeply believe Marcus and Daniel are dead. Whether or not they actually are, I will not say just yet. Of course, you're thinking along the lines of Sebastian's thoughts right now. Then again, he's smart, so I'm just gonna say that you should listen to your hunch ;) And yeah, I had to throw the quote in there. It's a favorite.**

 **ereader12: I know, me too! And thanks! Dead with a question mark, dead without… who's to say, yet? Anyway, I hope you like the chapter!**

 **KillWilson: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I agree, I don't like when stories launch into full backstory mode, but it _is_ an important factor. So I tried to strike a balance. And I'm sorry this isn't 'soon', but hey, I updated!**

 **Once again, everyone, I'm very sorry for the long wait! I'll try not to do it again!**

* * *

"So, what set off the alert, anyway?" Chase asked as they made their way through the forest that completely surrounded the government facility they were headed toward.

"One of our old alarms got set off," Taylor replied. "This was an old base of ours until a few androids attacked and blew up a good portion of it. It was a government facility before, but we never could hack into their data. Anyway, the sensors are still intact, and so are the geoleaping cancelers around the perimeter so we can't geoleap until we're actually _inside_ the center of the facility. The alarm is probably nothing, just an animal or something, but it's always good to check."

Logan frowned into the inky darkness. "I think the entrance is somewhere this way…" He took a step, but Leo suddenly lurched forward.

"Logan, watch out!"

A wall of fire roared past Logan as he stumbled back, and the hiss of melting metal sounded through the air.

"Whoa," the young commander breathed, staring at the puddle of melted android goo before turning to look at Leo with wide eyes. The pyrokinetic grinned sheepishly, shaking his hand to put out the flames still licking his sleeves.

"I don't even know where that came from, man, I'm sorry…" he glanced confusedly at his hand. "I didn't even know my fire could melt the androids."

"So, from what I gather, the alarm's _not_ nothing, then," Chase deadpanned, kicking at the remains of the android's head.

"Guess not," Taylor muttered. "Let's go, we need to stop the androids from getting… well, whatever it is they want!"

* * *

"Door's locked by an electronic password-protected lock," Chase muttered as he tugged on the handle to the front door of the facility. He stepped back and glanced at his companions. "Hang on, I'll use my scanners to get the password—"

Before he had the chance to, however a laser sphere flew past his nose and completely obliterated the door. Stumbling back from the shrapnel, he turned to glare at his brother.

"Leo!"

"Sorry," the boy grinned sheepishly. "But we need to hurry. Didn't have enough time."

On cue, a small squad of androids stepped out into the hallways, leering at them with glowing red eyes and exaggerated metal grins.

"No kidding," Taylor snapped in response to Leo's comment as she slid into fighting position. "Logan and I can hold them off, you two can get to the Cortex—the Mission Command of the old bases—and get the information the androids want before they can."

Leo blinked, looking like he'd been slapped in the face by pure surprise. "You're not coming with us?"

"You're the ones with bionic eye scanners, and we're not far enough in yet to geoleap" Taylor reasoned, arcing a hand in front of her as an android shot a laser at her. The laser ricocheted off her palm and blasted a hole clear through the android, though the metal monster didn't stop. She shot them a reassuring smile. "We got this."

"Speak for yourself!" Logan cried, hurriedly redirecting a blast of energy from an android to his left. He flinched away as an android on his right almost smashed his nose with a metal fist. "Hurry up and get the info so we can get out of here!"

Leo nodded and turned, grabbing Chase's wrist and pulling him down the hall.

"How do you know where the Cortex is?" Chase yelped as they made an especially sharp turn, getting more and more confused by the second. Not even his enhanced brain could keep up at this point.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I scanned the building!" Leo replied sarcastically, making another turn. "Android up ahead," he huffed suddenly. "Sensed the metal."

They slid to a stop, taking a few wary steps forward. Sure enough, a few metallic footsteps sounded, and then an android appeared in their view.

"Not one more step," Leo warned. The android just grinned, then began to shudder slightly.

"What's it doing?" Chase muttered.

"Why would I know?" Leo retorted, obviously equally mystified.

Within moments, their question was answered. What appeared to be skin grew over the metallic skeletal structure, forming a familiar face. A _very_ familiar face.

"Hello, Chase, Leo," he said, his voice sounding just like it had the last time they'd seen him.

"Marcus?" Chase stuttered quietly, literally stunned into near-silence. The boy genius took a step back, conflicting emotions warring across his features. All those memories he'd tried so hard to bury in the back of his head welled up to the surface, and Leo could see that the boy was actually on the edge of having a breakdown.

"No," he said. "Chase, _no_. Marcus is _dead_. Dead, okay? This android is messing with you. Vickers must've given them some new ability to imitate people from your past." Quickly sending out a mental probe, poking at the android's internal workings, he located the server. What he found wasn't pretty. "Chase, he's tearing into your chip and going into your memory files! You have to block him out, or he'll imitate someone else!" With that, Leo rushed at the android, letting fire seep over his fingers as he swung a fist.

Chase fell back, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to block out the memories, Marcus's face, Spike's incessant voice… everything. He focused on just one word over and over: _stop_.

 _-Think you can_ stop _, boy genius?_ Spike taunted, and Chase let out a low growling noise in the back of his throat.

"Shut up!"

" _I don't know, talking in your head is pretty fun… or, you know, out loud through your mouth."_ Spike managed to break Chase's hold just enough to get him to say the sentence out loud, but Chase quickly squashed the app down.

 _Stop._

He had to stop the android from looking at any more of his memories. He had to stop himself from hurting. He quickly found the breach and patched it up roughly. Not nearly strong enough, but enough to force the android to change form again.

'Marcus' suddenly twisted and morphed into someone else, just as Leo was going in for a hit. Both boys recognized this new face, and Leo faltered. This android looked just like their sister.

"No, stop!" 'Bree' cried in her familiar voice, her face a picture of innocence. "It's me. Please, don't hurt me."

"No," Leo protested, voice tight. _I know she's safe at the Academy, but that doesn't make me feel any better…_ "This isn't fair…" _Then again, when is war ever fair?_

"W-we can't fight this," Chase gasped, voice raspy from the tears he was suppressing. _Marucs is dead… but it looked so real._ "Let's go. L-let's go, Leo."

Leo stumbled back, obviously trying to patch up the breaches in his own chip's defenses, but not quickly enough. The android changed form again, into someone new who, again, both boys knew—but this one was directed at Leo.

"Mom," he choked out, looking at the woman—or, the android pretending to be her. "Mom…"

"Leo, we h-have to g-get out of here," Chase managed, grabbing Leo by the shoulder and pulling him around the corner. They sprinted up the stairs, managing to reach the top floor in three minutes.

"That was completely unfair," Leo said, voice carefully controlled and face forced into a calm expression.

Chase's own face, though it had been pale with the effort of containing Spike even before, had turned a chalky white. "I… I second that." He shuddered, comparing the Marcus in his memories to the fake one downstairs. "I d-didn't like that at a-all. Let's r-remind everyone to s-steer clear of those w-when we get back to the Academy."

Leo shot a concerned look at his brother through all his stuttering. "Jeez, Chase… Stay right here, okay? Keep an eye out and help me scan from there while I hack into the Cortex's server and see what the androids want.

Not trusting himself to speak properly, Chase just nodded. Leo crossed the room and stood at the cyberdesk, typing away and mumbling to himself every now and then. "They sent a little probe of sorts," he explained. "I'm tracing it to its intended target." He pushed a button, and then a hologram appeared over the tabletop.

Manipulating the hologram with his hands, Leo tossed aside a few unimportant files until he reached the one the android's virus had been looking for. His eyes widened as he read it, and he motioned his brother over. "Chase… they weren't looking to destroy any of our files or anything."

"S-so what were they trying to do?" Chase asked, managing to stutter less this time.

 _"Let the kid talk!"_ The words suddenly burst from Chase's own mouth, but Leo was accustomed enough to it that he knew it wasn't Chase talking.

"You have to calm down, Chase," Leo said calmly, "or Spike's going to use your mouth to talk again. Or, even worse, he'll take you over completely. And now is _not_ the best time." He continued promptly. "They weren't trying to destroy anything. They were trying to find a code this facility used against bionic insurgents— a virus that can transfer bionic power codes from our chips to a different offline network. They could steal our abilities, our memories, anything we have on our files."

"E-even with only a partial v-version of the virus, they could actually s-send it through a chip a-and backtrace it to maybe even h-hack into Mission Command!" Chase realized. "We have to tell T-taylor and Logan."

"Chase." Leo's voice matched his sudden new posture—slumped, close to defeated. "You didn't see this last part." He reached up and tapped a portion of the file, magnifying it and pointing at a specific line. "If amplified to a proper degree, the androids and Vickers can completely destroy our chips, render them useless. And if we don't have our chips, then the androids will destroy us all."

* * *

 **Ah, so good to be back in this story! I'd be very happy to see reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Happy 4th of July for all the Americans out there! I figured, since today is a day off, I could get to writing. Lo and behold, a new chapter!**

 **Susz: Thanks so much! I hope this wasn't _too_ long a wait this time!**

 **Dirtkid123: Well, androids don't really have a good sense of right and wrong. They do what it takes to win, and it just so happened that manipulating their memories and attachments works quite well. And anyway, thank you!**

 **LIZBROWN1979: I'm glad you liked it!**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Well, I'm very happy you love it! Well, you're kinda on to something, in a roundabout way. You'll see in about… four chapters, I think? Anyway, thanks again!**

 **LRW: Yeah, it's a bit of a Hunger Games reference, although it has some real significance later. Thanks for the review!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Yeah, it did XD The impersonation stuff will have some real importance later in the story, just you wait! Trust me, Chase is _not_ going to catch a break. I just love torturing him mentally, it's weirdly easy to do it :/ And yeah, you'll see more of the virus in this chapter. Also, the Cortex is also a Flash reference (that's what they call their Mission Command), but if it reminds you of Winx Club, I guess that works too! XD Anyway, thanks for the review!**

 **TheatreChristianManiac: Haha, yeah, I like throwing TONS AND TONS of references into my AUs! Thanks for the review!**

 **KillWilson: Marcus is easily a favorite for me, so he has a real importance here. Trust me, I'm not one to pass up an opportunity. Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest: Well, Leo's my favorite character. I'm always sad when I see a really good story that doesn't have much of him in it—he's actually the character I relate best to, so that's always a good way to get me, at least, hooked to a story! Besides, when I write him, I have to give him a touch of Emerald-flair! XD Thanks for the review!**

 **Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

* * *

That information seemed not to agree too well with Chase, who promptly (and heroically, he might argue were he conscious) collapsed.

Leo darted forward and caught him just in time, sighing in exasperation. Still, he knew that working with his brother had hazards such as these—you get Chase, you get Spike. You get Spike, you get a susceptible-to-passing-out Chase. Leo managed to prop him up against the wall before turning back to the cyberdesk.

"Okay," he muttered to himself, "let's see if we can get this away from Vickers." Condensing all the files concerning chip backtracking and disabling into two separate files, he went to work deleting them from both the system and whatever residual code might be scattered around the facility. Logically, he went to the disabling file first, virtually tearing it to pieces and burning them. He knew a lot about burning. Just as he began to relax, however, the room jolted and he fell. He gritted his teeth as a crack rang through the room and a sharp bolt of pain shot through his right arm, but managed to push himself to his feet. Hugging his arm to his chest, he stumbled to the console across the room, trying to access the cameras. When that failed, he fumbled for the two-way intercom and managed to activate it.

"Taylor, Logan!" he shouted. "You okay? The cameras aren't working, what's happening?"

 _"We're fine, Leo!"_ Taylor called back. _"I think one android just hit a deactivated explosive from the attack, that's what that was."_

Logan's voice pitched in, sounding terrified. _"But all things considered, we really should get out of here soon!"_

"Yeah, I just need to get rid of these files the androids are after!" Leo replied.

 _"What?"_ Taylor asked, aghast. _"We need those files, so we can figure out what the androids want and then turn it on them!"_

"It's too dangerous to keep them in the system!" Leo retorted, quickly turning the intercom off and interrupting her shout of anger.

He ran back over to the cyberdesk, hissing in pain as he reluctantly dropped his arm to his side. "The Virt-world is so lucky I'm ambidextrous." Typing with his left hand, he scanned the lines of code. Then, something caught his eye and he cursed. Someone—some _thing_ —else was hacking into the system, trying to get both files. He bit his lip as he typed, nearly drawing blood. This opponent was like none other—it didn't even seem like typical android action. His heart kept to his throat when he realized: if this wasn't an android, then it was Vickers. He was locked in battle with _Giselle Vickers_. He played virtual tug-of-war with the madwoman for a moment before the file containing all the codes to shut down bionic chips literally dissolved within the system. Gone. "Yes!" he cheered, punching the air with his good arm.

Suddenly, the cyberdesk's holograms twisted and morphed, forming a simple sentence:

 **NOW YOU SEE ME,**

The second file, containing the codes to trace a virus through a chip, was pulled from his grip and was gone in a blink of an eye.

His arm was left outstretched, grasping only air. _No…_

 **NOW YOU DON'T.**

It was gone.

Giselle Vickers was a master hacker. How could he ever hope to shut her out? The androids could break into Mission Command, and it was his fault.

He could practically hear Vickers's cruel laughter.

* * *

"Taylor," he croaked as he struggled down the stairs, supporting Chase with his good arm. "Logan!" The smoke was thick in the air, smothering him, choking him. It was all he could do to keep saying their names as he slipped and stumbled, tripping constantly as he picked his way down the steps.

After what felt like hours, though it probably was only a few minutes, he heard his name.

"Leo!" Taylor and Logan appeared at the bottom of the staircase, silhouetted against the dust hanging in the air. They rushed toward him, Logan gently lifting Chase off his good shoulder.

"Jeez, what happened?" the Commander asked as he checked Chase's pupils. "This is like a concussion, but not quite. I don't think one of those freaky shapeshifting androids did this…"

"Stress, shock, and Spike," Leo listed tersely as Taylor pulled a device out of her jacket pocket.

"Do you never carry your emergency first aid kit?" she asked as she pressed a button on the small case. She typed something in, and a square of folded cloth popped out. "Seriously, I though you'd have learned your lesson by now." She unfolded it and twisted it into a sling, offering it to Leo.

"This was just supposed to be recon, we didn't expect shapeshifting androids!" Leo protested as he settled his arm into the sling. "But, Taylor, I found something." He motioned Logan over so both commanders could hear, and the boy set Chase down against the wall. "Giselle Vickers was after two codes: one could send a harmless virus through a chip in close enough proximity, which in turn could be used to hack into our base. The second one could completely obliterate bionic chips—all of them. I managed to destroy that one, but the backtrace one was taken by Vickers."

Instead of awe or panic or something else more predictable, Leo was met with doubt. "Really, Leo? We would've known about codes like that before, everything in the sim feeds through Mission Command at some point. It's always been that way, as a rule," Taylor argued.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Do you think they guys who put us in this simulation care about rules? And what, you think I'm making this up? Why would I do that?"

"No, of course not," Logan tried to mediate. "I think Taylor's just saying that maybe you read the code wrong, or it was disguised, or something."

Leo looked at him incredulously. "You really know nothing about computers, do you?"

Logan just shrugged. "Besides, you haven't had a wink of sleep for forty-eight hours. Maybe you're just a little tired."

"Logan's right, Leo," Taylor agreed. "When we get back to the Academy, you can take the day off, alright? We'll take you and Chase to the med wing and then look more into this android attack." Her tone was kind, but her eyes offered no room to argue.

Leo bit back his retort and nodded in defeat. "I'll take Chase to the med wing, you guys can go right to Mission Command. Are we geoleaping?"

Taylor offered him her arm as Logan picked Chase up again. "We managed to take out the geoleaping blockers, so we can geoleap out of here."

Still huffing in anger, Leo took her arm and the world dissolved in a black mist.

* * *

An hour later, Leo was sitting in a chair next to Chase's bed in the med wing, his dislocated wrist, as it turned out, having been fixed in a mere thirty minutes. The door suddenly flew open, and Bree and Adam practically flew inside.

"We heard what happened," Bree said in a rush, sitting next to him. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah. I'll fill you in more later, but what's important is that he's fine," Leo reassured her, ducking to avoid her gaze. He couldn't look at her without seeing the android morph into her and Marcus and his mo—no. Not thinking about it. "He just didn't tell me how bad the Spike problem had gotten, the idiot."

He spared a glance at Adam, who looked rather pale and shell-shocked. Leo knew Adam would always deny it, but he really did care a lot about Chase. "How long will he be out?" the oldest Davenport asked quietly.

"No more than a few more hours," Leo replied. "You guys have to go, but I have the day off. I'll be here, don't worry."

"Thanks, Leo," Adam smiled weakly, pulling Bree to her feet.

"Never a problem," Leo grinned back.

As soon as they left, however, Leo wished they hadn't. He needed to tell someone about the codes—someone _conscious_ —and the threats they were facing. He needed to tell someone who would believe him. Because as much as he liked Taylor and Logan, they put too much faith into the rules of their little 'game'. They wouldn't understand if something didn't fall into the pattern—they were too much like actual soldiers in that sense.

It just hurt that they didn't believe him.

* * *

 **As always, reviews are appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, everyone! So, good news, I got an update in! (I mean, duh, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this XD) Bad news, I'm leaving for camp at four in the morning tomorrow, so no updates on any of my stories for about three and a half to four weeks. It kinda depends. But we will not let this information detract from this chapter! Replies for everyone!**

 **Susz: Well, at least they're not dead, right? But I mean, Giselle is just… like that. She's a good villain, but she is** ** _so annoying_** **sometimes. I kinda think if she hadn't dumped Douglas (IRL in the show), he might've at some point due to that. (Also, I saw your "SOS boredom" messages on Wattpad, and sorry I didn't reply. Hope you're okay!)**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!**

 **PurpleNicole531: And honestly, it's not even just me who makes it go down like that. In the show, Chase is** ** _always_** **the first to go down. Why? I have no idea, I just roll with it XD Also, just thought I'd mention that I have almost the exact same character ranking as you (Leo and Bree are practically tied for me, with Leo just a smidge ahead). And totally, Giselle just doesn't respect the natural laws of the universe! XD**

 **Asori: Hey, welcome aboard! Thank you, and I'm glad you liked it! (A side note, I really love Ender's Game, so I kinda just knew I had to write something with elements from that incorporated in.)**

 **TheatreChristianManiac: Yes, yes, very similar indeed. In fact, I threw in a small little dialogue reference; I couldn't resist XD So glad you love it!**

 **Dirtkid123: I'm not exactly following your thinking process, but I suppose that makes sense. Anyway, thank you!**

 **Guest: Thanks! I feel like I have so much to work with when it comes to Leo, which is always super fun.**

 **KillWilson: Overcomplicated? *sweats* No, of course not! *rewrites plan for the next forty or so chapters* Nah, I'm kidding. I mean, the story gets a little more complex as we proceed, but honestly, it's not that hard to follow. I hope.**

 **So today we meet a "new" character, two friends have a falling out, and an ominous message is received. Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

* * *

Taylor sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face as she collapsed in her chair in Mission Command. She wasn't _tired_ , exactly, she was used to being sleep deprived. She was just… exhausted. With something.

Or a someone. Leo, maybe? That boy could be very overdramatic sometimes. Most of the time, actually. Taylor liked him, of course, but his tall-tale of a destructive code was ridiculous. She and Logan were in Mission Command almost every hour of the day, had pored over hundreds of thousands of codes that filtered through their base every single day without fail. There wasn't a code in the Virt-World they hadn't looked at. The fact that Leo claimed they were wrong was, frankly, insulting.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by Logan letting out a groan as he sat down in his own chair, practically wilting over onto his cyberdesk.

"You okay, Logan?" she asked him.

"Fine, fine," he waved her off. "Just… well, androids. You were there."

Taylor never really understand his rambles—no one did, except for Leo and Sabrina (one of the medics and Logan's other best friend)—so she just nodded. "We should work on analyzing android behavior," she said. "Last night's attack was highly irregular. I'd like to look more into it."

"But I'm hungry," Logan protested, "and we missed breakfast. We were fighting _androids_ all night!"

Taylor checked the clock on her chip. "Lunch is in an hour."

"But I'm hungry now!" the boy complained, and Taylor had to wonder why she _ever_ thought making the child-in-a-teenage-boy's-body a commander was a good idea.

"The cafeteria should have some food by now," she sighed reluctantly. "Go get a sandwich or something, then come back here."

Logan literally cheered, crying "YAY!" before standing. "I'll bring you something too, Tay. I'll make a detour to the med wing and give Leo and Chase some food, then come right back."

Taylor smiled at the back of his head as he walked out the door. He had a good heart.

Oh. Right. That's why she promoted him.

* * *

"Knock knock."

Leo stirred in his chair from which he'd been absently staring at the wall. He turned to see Logan at the door, balancing two trays on his arm. "I don't know if you're asking to come in or if this is the beginning of a joke," he laughed.

Logan chuckled, walking in and carefully setting down one of the trays on the table next to Chase's bed. "Food for you, by order of Our Glorious Leader, Commander S-1."

"Really?" Leo asked skeptically as he reached for the plate of fries (unhealthy, maybe, but hey, _I'm human!_ ).

"Nah," Logan laughed, setting the other tray on the unoccupied bed behind him. "I made her let me go get food, decided to swing by here and give you some."

"Well, thanks, Lo," Leo mumbled around a mouthful of the food.

"No problem."

They sat in silence for a moment, Leo now chomping on some pesto as Logan surveyed Chase's face with a pondering look on his own.

"It's that bad, huh?" Logan said suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"Chase. Spike messed him up so badly that he can't even stand in a capsule to heal faster."

Leo shrugged sadly. "You know, one of the worst things is that this isn't the first time this has happened. _Every time_ Spike shows up, even just as a voice in Chase's head, it escalates. And _every time_ , he thinks he can handle it on his own. He doesn't tell us that Spike is tearing him apart from the inside, is taking over his thoughts, his voice, his entirety. He doesn't tell us that Spike is taking all the command and self-restraint from him. _Every single time_ , he loses control."

"What happens?"

Leo swallowed. "Like I said, he just hears Spike in his head at first. If he doesn't calm down enough, Spike starts throwing him off-kilter, using his voice and messing with his eyes. If it gets worse, well… he turns into a monster. Spike doesn't recognize anyone, uses Chase's face and eyes and voice against us. Thankfully, Chase stopped that today. He had to faint to do it, but he managed to push Spike back."

Logan's eyebrows shot up. "He can do that?"

"Uh-huh. It takes a lot, and the effort made him pass out, but he put Spike away until the next time." Leo looked at his feet. "But do you know the absolute worst part?" Logan looked at him expectantly for a moment before Leo continued. "It's the knowledge that the only reason he gets worked up enough for Spike to get out is because of you. It's always because of me and Bree and Adam, every time. It's… it's hard to deal with, Lo."

"I can't even imagine," Logan muttered.

Silence dropped over them again, shattered by the door opening again. A girl walked in pulling a white lab coat over her orange soldier uniform, brushing blond hair out of her face from where it had fallen out of her ponytail.

Both boys greeted her, Leo smiling and saying, "Sab!" at the exact moment Logan grinned and said, "Brina!"

The girl's mouth twitched into a warm smile at the familiar greeting. "Hi, boys." She handed Leo a small bottle of pills ("aspirin for any headaches Chase might have when he wakes up") and put a hand on Chase's forehead.

"How is he, Sabrina?" Leo prompted her when she didn't say anything immediately.

Sabrina turned to him, eyebrows drawn together in worry and confusion. "I… don't know. He has a slight temperature, but other than that he's perfectly fine. He _should_ be waking up, but he just… isn't."

Logan stirred suddenly, offering up a suggestion. "What about his chip?"

"What?"

"Well, the problem is Spike, right? And Spike is on his chip. Maybe there's a glitch in there or something," he explained.

A horrible feeling of dread settled over Leo. "Giselle Vickers… she might have hacked into his chip when we were on that mission and he passed out. She could have downloaded the virus to link his chip to Mission Command and hack it!"

Sabrina promptly dissolved into black mist and reappeared a second later, holding a chip scanner. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I really hope she didn't," she muttered as the scanner beeped slowly.

Leo stood and moved to stand next to her, watching the little bar of light go back and forth across the screen. When letters and numbers popped up, he sighed with relief. "Okay, good. That's much more manageable."

"I can't make heads or tails of that," Logan complained.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Giselle didn't hack his chip, Lo. Spike just was extra-Spiky this time." He turned to Sabrina. "All he needs is a minor electric shock to the back of his neck, actually. The electricity should stimulate the chip enough to push Spike back fully."

"I'll get right on it," Sabrina smiled, disappearing once more. Logan sat back in his chair, staring at the spot Sabrina had been standing before looking at Leo, a look in his eyes Leo didn't like.

"What?" he asked.

"You are going to very extreme lengths to convince me that the virus is real," was Logan's reply.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Leo demanded. "Why do you not believe me?"

"Because, Leo!" Logan shouted, shooting to his feet. "Because Taylor and I have never seen the code before, and we've seen _all_ the codes. We've been here longer than you—"

"By literally one month!"

"—and we took that month to overview _every single code_ going through the computers in this sim and fix Mission Command to filter them! We've been monitoring it ever since! If we didn't see it, it _doesn't exist_!" Logan was red in the face from screaming at that point, face twisted.

"I don't understand why you're so _angry_ —"

"Because you're undermining my authority!"

"You shouldn't be so upset about that!" Leo yelled back, rising as well. "Lo, you're my best friend besides my siblings, you should be able to trust me, to _believe me_ —"

"Well, I don't!" Logan retorted. "Taylor and I spent a month and more finding all these codes, you're not about to ruin the system now!"

Leo's face suddenly relaxed, and he nodded calmly. "You know what, Logan? I understand now. I think… no, I _know_ you're afraid."

Logan took a step back, obviously startled. "What?"

"You and Taylor, you don't understand the code that I'm telling you is out there. So you deny that it even exists. You're going to get us all killed!" Leo slammed his hand down on the table, cracking it.

"Leo." Logan slumped back into his chair. "If what you're saying is true, then all the work Taylor and I have done to keep the androids at bay, the training we've done with the soldiers, the encryptions and systems… everything has been a lie, pointless, because the one controlling this sim is changing the rules that have always worked for me before."

"You sound like you're agreeing with me, then."

Logan sighed painfully. "Leo, you're by best friend, you know that. What you're saying seems _plausible_ , but I… still can't believe it. I _won't_ believe it."

Leo glared coldly at him. "Then we're all dead, because of you."

* * *

"What is taking him so long?" Taylor complained out loud to herself as she typed on her cyberdesk. Logan may have a heart of gold, but memory was not one of his strong points. Maybe he got lost again.

 _Mental note: If S-9 is not back within five minutes, send a junior officer to find him._

Satisfied, she allowed herself to get immersed into the complex coding, the soundtrack to her work being the beeping all around her. Out of the corner of her eye, however, she caught a flicker of light. Turning, she spotted a sim-screen hovering above a different cyberdesk, which appeared to be malfunctioning.

"What does the maintenance crew even do around here?" she groused (aloud and to herself again), standing and walking over. Tapping a few keys on the virtual keyboard, she managed to turn the cyberdesk screen off.

Unfortunately, Taylor didn't even have time to turn around before the cyberdesk practically exploded into a burst of light. She threw her arms up over her eyes, momentarily blinded. Frantically searching through her apps, she quickly selected the vision darkening option before opening her eyes again. The light still appeared bright, but nowhere near as blinding. Squinting at the screen, which had somehow turned itself on, she saw something flickering—words. Stepping forward, she read the message, and her blood ran cold.

 **THE BATTLE BEGINS SOONER THAN EXPECTED. READY?**

And underneath those words was something worse: a timer, ticking back the days.

* * *

 **Reviews are always appreciated, and I'll se ya'll in a few weeks!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Aha, I'm back!**

 **…** **Well, I was back, like, two weeks ago. But that's how long it took me to write this. On the bright side, if I've spent that much time on it, then it's probably good! It's a fair bit longer than usual, too.**

 **(I'm sorry if I'm a little ramble-y right now, my mind is blown by musicnotes093's new story. Like, wow. My brain hurts. In a good way.)**

 **Anyway, kudos to my sister, SapphireRose (yes, she's still a guest), for reading over this beforehand. Now, to replies!**

 **Susz: Chase is always alright, isn't he? I mean, it's kind of a Lab Rats staple to almost kill him but not really… That didn't make much sense, but whatever! XD Hope you had fun at camp, and thanks for the review!**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Well… it's** ** _sort of_** **a Star Wars reference, but not really. In retrospect, it is XD Anyway, yes, DRAMA! Trust me, fear can make you do stupid, stupid stuff. Then again, they're soldiers. They'll get over it, it's all good. As for Sebastian and Lexi, well, we'll get some more on that in this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!**

 **LRW: Well, of course Leo has to be right, he was right there, wasn't he? Unless he wasn't… *insert evil laughter here* XD No, but in all seriousness, we're gonna get deeper into that here. And wow, that reading-out-loud thing sounds rather helpful, actually. To figure out if it really works as a scene, y'know? Anyway, thank you for the review!**

 **Asori: Thanks! Hope I didn't make the wait** ** _too_** **long.**

 **KillWilson: Doing my best as a human being to keep up. Hope I meet your standards with a wait this long! XD**

 **LIZBROWN6979: Well, that's good, 'thrilling' is what I'm going for! As for the Leo/Logan friendship, well… I'm trying to keep it intact here, but I know where that plot wants to go, and I hope you like it.**

 **PurpleNicole531: Hey, three cheers for underrated characters! And Chabrina! XD Anyway, like I said above somewhere, the Leo/Logan friendship plot is definitely leading up to something in later chapters. *whispers* all things have a purpose… Moving on! Honestly, no one likes Giselle as a person, do they? As for the Taylor blinding scare, yes, that was what I was sort of going for. And yeah, androids do get a bit boring after a while, and it's been established on the show that Giselle can fight, so I'm not about to do away with that! Hope you like the chapter, and thanks for the review!**

 **Dirtkid123: Well,** ** _we_** **know that Leo is right, but Logan doesn't. Besides, being right is often more dangerous than being wrong, is it not?**

 **SapphireRose (guest): Well, thanks, Sapph!**

 **On to the chapter!**

 **(Also, I'm starting doing a 'quote of the chapter'. Pretty self-explanatory.)**

 **Quote of the Chapter:** ** _"War means sacrifices. One of those sacrifices often is friendship—or, rather, the trust that makes it."_**

* * *

 _War._

The word echoed in Taylor's head, making her heart beat faster.

 _Why now?_ she couldn't help but wonder. _What could make Vickers call on the war she didn't seem ready for before?_

Realization hit her like a truck, and she actually stumbled back from the sudden revelation. _Oh, no…_

"Whoa," a voice behind her said. She turned around to see Logan in the doorway, holding a sandwich in his hand and confusion filling his eyes where there had been something like anger moments ago. "What…?" He seemed to notice her expression. "What happened?"

"Vickers declared war," she said, detached, feeling miles away. "Leo… he was right about the virus. It's running through her own systems, that's why we couldn't find it."

Logan's face immediately morphed into pure horror, shock, and guilt. "Oh, no," he spoke her thought from a moment ago. "Taylor…"

"I'm ordering intensive training, effective immediately," Taylor snapped into 'leader mode', turning to her cyberdesk. "Get all the commanders up here."

" _Taylor_ ," Logan repeated insistently.

"What?" she snapped.

"Leo's going to go after her himself."

" _What_?"

"Here," he sighed, tossing her the sandwich. She'd almost forgotten he'd gone to get food for her and Leo and Chase. "Taylor, you know what Leo is like. He's angry now. I kind of… argued with him. He thinks we don't believe him, and he thinks that this is his fault because he didn't destroy the virus in the first place. Now that we know the war is actually starting, and he's going to try to take her down without any help."

"He'll walk right into her trap," Taylor realized, ignoring the food. "He'll connect his chip to hack into her androids, and she'll turn it around on him." She turned to the boy. "Go talk to him. Get him to sit out a while without making it sound like you're accusing him."

"If he refuses and goes to do it anyway?"

She grimaced, reaching behind her and pulling some glowing pieces of metal from her cyberdesk. "The resort to drastic measures. Use these, and on Chase as a precaution."

Logan recoiled. "Taylor, I _can't_ —"

"You have to," she insisted. "That's an order."

* * *

~ _Attention. Attention. All soldiers and junior officers report to the Training Center immediately. All commanders report to the Cortex immediately. Adam and Bree Davenport, report took the Cortex as well.~_

"What's happening?" Leo demanded, turning around in his chair as soon as the door to the med wing hissed open. Logan walked in, eyes fixed on the floor, and Leo's bafflement at the alarm turned to anger. "Oh. You."

"Taylor's ordering intensive training, effective immediately," Logan said softly, face still turned away but eyes trailing over to Leo's. When he saw that Leo's glare wasn't wavering, he quickly averted his gaze again. "Apparently, Vickers declared war about an hour ago. We have six days and twenty-three hours left."

"And my siblings?"

Logan chewed his lip. "Well, they're the next highest ranked behind Commanders, so we need them to oversee the training of the younger soldiers."

"Students," Leo corrected. "They're not just your soldiers, they are— _we_ are—still children."

"Yes, of course." The young commander hesitated for a moment before saying, "Taylor and I felt it was for the best that you and Chase sit out the training, just stay here for he next few days. For your health."

"I'm not stupid," Leo scoffed. "I know that you know that my arm is almost fixed, and Chase will be fine in a few hours now that Sabrina shocked him. You just don't want us telling anyone about the codes we found, that you think I'm wrong about. Or, even worse, _doing_ something about it."

"Leo, I _do_ believe you, really!" Logan's voice was so earnest, Leo was thrown off.

"What?"

Logan bit his lip. "Vickers. What else could have caused her to declare war other than a virus she thinks she can use to her advantage? There's no other possibility. But you're still hurt, and so is your brother. We really think you should just… lay low for a while."

Leo seemed to consider it for a moment. "No."

"Leo, _please_ just—"

"No," Leo said again, cutting him off. "No, Logan, I'm not staying in here forever. Or even one more day. I'm stopping Giselle, with or without your help."

Logan nodded, but his face hardened with resolve. "Okay." He took a step forward, then paused. "I'm sorry for what comes next. Our Glorious Leader's orders—and, for once, I kinda agree with her." Even the teasing words and mocking nickname managed to sound bitter.

Leo's eyebrows drew together. "What—?" Then Logan stepped forward and clamped glowing purple cuffs (seemingly pulled from nowhere) around one of his wrists, locking him against Chase's gurney with the other end. The pyrokinetic felt it instantly—a sensation not unlike a damp towel being pressed against his nose and mouth. He struggled to pull in a breath, managing to get out a question. "What is this?"

Logan looked at him, guilt and sorrow etched across his face. "We really do want you to heal, but if I'm being honest, I know you well enough to know that you're planning on hacking into whatever mainframe you were in yesterday again. You already seemed to tick Vickers off enough to declare war after your little stunt last night. We can't risk you getting caught."

"I wouldn't get caught. And you still didn't answer my question," Leo pointed out, trying to calm his breathing.

"You absolutely would get caught," Logan said, stepping around Leo and putting another pair of cuffs on Chase. "Vickers is no slouch. As smart as you are, she is definitely smarter than you, at least in the coding sense. Smarter than Chase, even." He paused. "And as for what I did, well, I used the bionic suppression cuffs. It'll do the same for Chase once he wakes."

Leo, in disbelief, raised his free hand in front of his face and furrowed his brows. Instead of an inferno, only a few sparks lept to life in his palm before fizzling out. He stumbled to his feet and over to Logan, only making it about a foot before hitting the end of the chain and falling back. "Logan, how could you?"

"I thought I explained already," Logan replied with a small shrug, eyes flitting to the floor again.

"If you're the leaders of the good guys, I'd hate to see Giselle!" Leo shouted weakly, straining his hand against the cuffs. Despite knowing the pyrokinetic couldn't do much damage, Logan flinched back.

"But that's the thing, Leo," Logan said. "We're willing to do whatever it takes, but we have to do it _together_. You said you went after Vickers alone last night, that'll only fail us. We have one advantage: Vickers doesn't have powers, only her androids do. And androids can be taken care of easily, they follow strict rules in their coding."

Leo's face twisted. "You're not _listening_ to me! They don't _care_ about the rules, she's changing the game, and I'm the only one who seems to realize that."

"This isn't a game, Leo," Logan said quietly. "We could die, simulation or not. This will destroy us."

Leo didn't seem to hear him. "You're going to get everyone killed! My siblings, the students, Taylor… you're going to obliterate us. We'll never get out of here, we'll never get home!"

"We _will_ ," Logan said firmly, but even through the haze of confusion Leo could see the torment in his eyes. "We can win this. We can get home. But, Leo… we can't lose you, especially not if it opens our door for the enemy. You'll see, Leo, just you wait." He turned and walked down the hall and pressed a button on his watch, and Leo's angry screams were silenced as the doors slid shut. Logan only heard one more question: _How could you?_

"I don't know, Leo," he murmured to himself. "But we can't lose you."

* * *

Bree walked with a new spring in her step, Adam noticed.

"What's got you so happy?" he asked, the unspoken _Our little brother almost died so why are you in a good mood?_ hanging between them.

"Well, we finally have a useful job around the facility!" his sister enthused. "Not that we were useless before, it's just, well…"

"We're saving lives right now, by training them," Adam finished. "Right." They walked in silence for a few paces, mostly so Bree could flash a little smile at Kaz and Skylar, two soldier friends of theirs, as the duo rushed past the siblings.

"Oliver's probably already there," Bree mused absently, but Adam noticed the way her eyes pulled up into her head slightly.

"You're checking on Chase again," he said, very aware of the jealousy creeping into his voice.

"Uh-huh."

"It's really not fair that you two have a link between your chips and I don't," he complained.

Bree finally stopped checking Chase's vitals in her own head to answer. "Trust me, it's not that glamorous. All it does is tell me when he's dead."

"Still helpful."

* * *

"Okay!" Adam said jovially—was 'jovially' a word? Yeah, he was pretty sure that it was. Wait, why was he narrating his own tone of voice?—as he faced his small group of trainees. "Everyone divide into groups based on your color rank." As the students scrambled to sit with their other group members, Adam spared a glance across the room to Bree's group, in perfect ranks and already sparring, and winced. He was really behind, especially considering the fact that Bree's group was entirely comprised of speedsters.

He turned back to his group just as everyone got themselves sorted out. "Great. Generally speaking, your ranks are determined both by how strong you are _and_ how in control you are. There are training dummies along the wall, all color coordinated to your rank. Form a line and take turns. Go work on strength first, then we'll work on finesse." Honestly, he was just stealing words from his siblings now. "Ten minutes, starting… now!"

The groups all gravitated to the correct training dummies, but one student remained motionless. "Um, Adam?" she said.

"Kate?" he replied, startled. "What's the problem?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Well, I don't have super strength. Only my 'Spikette', as people have started calling it, does. And I wouldn't trust me to punch a dummy anyway, I had to ask Spin to open the ketchup bottle at dinner yesterday." She blushed.

"Oh." _That was a dumb answer, Adam, think!_ he chastised himself. "Okay, well, what else can you do?"

"Uh, sonic screaming. I haven't tried it yet, though."

He nodded. "You can break glass with it, and if you reach a certain pitch, you can knock someone out."

Her face brightened. "Really?"

Adam shrugged. "That's what Chase told me, anyway."

Kate glanced around, surveying the area, then darted over to a glass partition.

His eyes widened as he realized what she was going to do. "Kate, I really wouldn't—"

She she opened her mouth and shrieked, and the glass shattered instantly, spraying everywhere. Adam shielded his face, feeling a few shards pierce his arms, as he sensed all his other students turn to watch the damage. After a moment, he lowered his arms, brushing the glass dust from his hair and shoulders, as Kate just stood there.

"Kate—?" She suddenly swayed, then toppled over. Adam managed to dart forward and grab her just in time. She wasn't cut anywhere, fortunately—her scream must've completely obliterated any incoming projectiles.

"I did warn her," he muttered to himself before turning to his sister's group, who had all frozen in their work to watch the disaster. "Bree, can you—"

"Watch your group? Yeah," she replied instantly, jogging over with her group following her. "Take her to the med wing."

"No, I was going to put her on the next train to New York," he replied as he swept Kate up and began to walk out.

"Ooh, can I go too?" Bob called from somewhere in the large mass of students.

"Sarcasm, Bob!" he called back.

* * *

Bree forced a confident smile onto her face as she watched her brother's retreating back from the corner of her eye. "Adam's students, go back to punching your dummies. My students, we'll set up our races over here." With a gust of wind and three seconds, the tracks were set up. "Nicely done!" she smiled again— _hey, I'm getting the hang of this teaching thing!_ "Who's up first!" A few hands shot up, so Bree put them each in one of the four lanes.

"Kavan, Owen, Jenny, and…" she spotted the tiny raised hand in the middle of the group and sighed. "Spin, come here for a second." The small boy walked up, and Bree felt really bad to do this, but it had to happen. "Spin, here's the problem. You have super gyration, not speed. You're fast, yes, but you're not as fast as actual speedsters. Also…"

"He's the Greenie!" someone shouted from the back.

"I'm not too young," the boy responded quickly, almost reflexively.

"Agree to disagree," Bree said. "Lexi, you're in lane four."

* * *

The doors to the Cortex hissed open, and Sebastian turned in his swivel chair to see who it was.

"Logan," Taylor greeted. "You cuffed him, then?"

Logan appeared shell-shocked and horrified, and his face was pale—he looked almost as bad as Chase after his Spike attacks. "Why'd you make _me_ do it, Taylor?"

She shrugged. "Leo has to know that we're being serious here. This is war. We can't afford to have him, or anyone, try to take down Giselle Vickers alone." Her voice trembled slightly. "We can't lose him."

Logan looked close to tears as he sank into a chair. "I think I might already have."

Sebastian watched their exchange with confusion, coughing to get their attention. "Anything I need to know?"

Taylor shrugged. "Leo found something that made him want to take Vickers down by himself. Like I said, we can't lose him."

"What'd you do to him?"

" _She_ made me go put bionic suppressers on him and lock him in the med wing!" Logan snapped. "To make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid!"

"Hey!" Taylor said sharply. "You _agreed_ to this plan. And you were the one who even mentioned in the first place that Leo might do something behind our backs!"

"I didn't know we were going to have to cuff him!"

"Did you explain _why_ we wanted him to stay in the med wing?"

"Yeah, I told him Vickers would catch him for sure."

Taylor sighed. "Did you tell him that Vickers could link through his chip?"

Logan blinked like he'd been slapped. "I don't think so."

"If you'd thought of that, maybe he'd have listened." She sighed again. "Well, he's to angry with us now to be reasonable."

"Taylor!" Logan's tone was so insulted and hurt, Sebastian felt second-hand guilt. Taylor, on the other hand, seemed to have no such qualms.

"War means sacrifices. One of those sacrifices often is friendship—or, rather, the trust that makes it. It's not like I enjoyed knowing we had to do that! He's my friend, too, Lo—"

" _Don't_ ," Logan choked out, a tad desperately. "Don't call me that. You don't know… Leo and Sabrina are my best friends in the whole world. You can't take that from me."

"It's a little late for that, S-9," Taylor—no, she was reverting to S-1 now—replied coldly. "Maybe after we train the soldiers, you can let him go and apologize, and if he's anything like the Leo I know, he'll forgive you." The sarcastic tone in her words wasn't lost on either of the boys.

"Why, exactly, didn't you feel the need to tell me this?" Sebastian demanded, standing. "I feel like this should've been a group decision, and you could've at least _told_ us that Leo even _thought_ he found something!"

S-1 turned on him, dark eyes piercing and cold. "We didn't know what he'd found until Vickers declared war, and our immediate problem was that he might go after her alone. Not something we needed to share. Besides," she added, and Sebastian took an instinctive step back. "We all have our secrets, S-3."

The glass vial in his pocket suddenly felt much heavier, and he nodded weakly before sitting back down in his chair. "Right."

"Commanders," a soldier—Jake, if he was remembering correctly—suddenly said, "didn't you say that the med wing was on off-limits until the timer goes off?"

"Yes," S-1 said tersely. "Why?"

"There appears to be an injured student with an escort, and someone's taking them to the med wing."

"Shut down the doors," S-1 ordered immediately.

Jake frantically typed away, then froze. "Too late. They already opened it."

Logan's eyes widened, almost comically if he didn't look so terrified. "That's not good."

"If they let Leo out, he's going to probably take on Vickers alone _and_ have our heads!" S-1 yelled. "Commanders S-four and five, we're going to the med wing! The rest of you, put the students and all our computer rooms on lockdown. S-3," she turned to Sebastian, "stay here and monitor everything. Remotely deactivate anything if he gets too close. My password's on my cyberdesk."

"Tay—S-1," he corrected himself as the room exploded into chaos, "don't you think you're overreacting a little? This is Leo we're talking about. He wouldn't hurt anyone."

"That's _not_ what I'm worried about," she replied sharply. "When we use our larger mainframes in this facility, we link in our chips. Leo's going to do that and try to break into Giselle Vickers's code. She'll destroy him completely, and—if he's right about this mystery virus he supposedly saw—use that to break in _here_. Even if we're right, and the virus doesn't exist, Leo is one of our best assets." She turned to Logan, who looked completely confused and lost at this turn of events, and grabbed his wrist. "You're coming with me. We have to go. Can't geoleap in here, so—run!"

Sebastian watched as they bolted from the room, and suddenly he was alone at the cyberdesk. Pulling up their live video feed from all around the Academy, he quickly surveyed the different screens. The higher number commanders were scrambling around the whole facility, shutting down entire rooms filled with previously blinking cyberdesks and wall screens, or rounding up students and bringing them to the training room.

Taylor and Logan ran from screen to screen, so fast they occasionally stumbled over their own feet. There was no sign of the other three commanders who were supposed to be behind them—too slow, he presumed.

The training room was a whole other story. Students were huddled in groups, jumping in solidarity whenever another student was whisked in by a commander. Bree was standing toward a wall with some of the younger students huddled around her. Even through the grainy quality of the video, he could see the expression on her face. He watched as she shouted something to Jake, who yelled something back before speeding off. She turned to Lexi—Lexi! How could he have forgotten her…

His cyberdesk suddenly beeped, and he glanced over to read that he had a message. Sliding away from Taylor's computer, he opened the messages on his own and read the simple words that popped up.

 _Download DNA recognition app._

 _(Identification: Unknown number)_

He felt his eyes widen slightly. _What the…?_

Nevertheless, that message had a point. Saving it so he could backtrace it later, his hand drifted down to his pocket, pulling out the vial with Lexi's dark hair. He could just… download the DNA recognition app. He had Taylor's password on her cyberdesk. No one was here. No one needed to know.

 _I can't abuse Taylor's trust like that, can I?_

Unbidden, something she'd said bubbled to the surface. _"War means sacrifices. One of those sacrifices often is friendship—or, rather, the trust that makes it."_

What was to say she wouldn't do the same?

Settled on that, he set the vial on his desk and slid into her chair. He opened the drawer beneath the cyberdesk, pulling out a few wires. Attatching a node to his forehead and another to his neck, he activated the cyberdesk and opened his file. Flicking through a list of abilities, he hesitated on pyrokinesis. Leo had it, Jenny had it, a few others. They were all powerful. It might be nice…

Before he could decide against it, he pressed it. _Can't un-download an ability, right?_ With that in mind, he quickly went back to heat vision and pressed that, too. Then electrokinesis. That was sort of where he drew the line, however—any more would max out his chip and burn out.

He felt the tingle and rush of energy that flowed through every soldier when they unlocked a new ability, then grinned. Getting the vial from his desk molecularkinetically, he lifted it to eye level. Looking at the results of his scan, his smile widened. "Well. How about that."

* * *

"Chase, now would be a _great_ time to wake up," Leo muttered, shaking his brother's shoulder half-heartedly. The other boy stirred a little, but ultimately did _not_ wake up.

Groaning in frustration, Leo glanced around, eyes landing on a glass of water on the side table. Straining to reach it, he managed to pick it up, turn, and dump it on Chase's head.

His brother sputtered, eyes blinking open. "My head is killing me, and now I'm soaking wet. Thanks."

"Not to mention cuffed with bionic suppressors."

Chase sat up, glancing down at his hands and then dropping his head back again. "What did you do now?"

Leo smiled, half sarcastic and half in relief. "Only you would come out of a mini coma speaking perfect sentences. Now take a freaking headache pill and help me figure a way out of here."

* * *

"Whoa!"

Adam stumbled back, almost dropping Kate as someone materialized directly in front of him.

"Sorry, sorry!" the girl exclaimed, regaining her own balance and straightening out her lab coat. "I'm so sorry," she said again.

"Sabrina, it's fine," Adam responded immediately, recognizing his brother's friend. Suddenly realizing something, he frowned. "Why aren't you training?"

She laughed. "I'm a medic. All I have is geoleaping and eye scanners. Not exactly soldier worthy." Focus landing on Kate, her eyes blinked bright blue. "Overheated chip. What happened?"

"Strained herself with an untested ability," Adam explained.

"Well, fortunately, that's an easy fix," Sabrina laughed. "Let's go into the med wing, I'll fix her up." She put a hand on the scanner outside the door, which blinked green and slid open. They stepped inside, met with a sight that stopped them both in their tracks.

Chase was standing by the counter, trying to sort through several sharp objects despite his whole body trembling and both wrists being bound with glowing purple chains. Leo, on the other hand, was simply sitting helplessly, cuffed to the rail on the end of a gurney.

"What happened?" Sabrina cried, seemingly torn between running to Leo or Chase.

Leo looked over at Adam and sighed in relief. "Long story. Chase, no need for dangerous tools anymore. Adam, use your heat vision to break the cuffs."

"Why don't you just melt them yourself?" he asked, setting Kate down on a different gurney.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Don't you think I would if I could? They're bionic suppressors."

"Won't the heat vision just bounce off, then?" Sabrina asked, going over to Chase and carefully sliding away all the 'dangerous tools'.

The pyrokinetic rolled his eyes again. "They're bionic _suppressors_ , not bionic _proof_." He offered up his arm for Adam, who fired a quick burst and split the chain right in the middle. Chase held out his hands as well, and Adam did the same for him.

"You didn't purposefully burn me this time," Chase noted mildly as he shook off the cuffs.

Adam grinned slightly. "You just got out of a mini coma. I'm being nice."

"Is anyone going to explain why you were locked up with bionic suppressors?" Sabrina insisted.

"Maybe later," Leo responded, "but I have some more pressing matters to attend to."

"Like what?" Chase looked at him, puzzled. He didn't seem to remember anything from the mission.

"Stopping Giselle Vickers," Leo flashed them all a grin before darting from the room.

* * *

 **BAM! Not bad for almost a month away, amiright?**

 **I was originally going to leave the chapter off with Leo locked up and the entire Academy in a frenzy. Plus, I wasn't going to have Sebastian in it at all. I think this works better, right?**

 **The challenge for this chapter (yes, I'm instituting challenges) is: can you list all my references to other Lab Rats characters** ** _and_** **either from what episode(s) they were from** ** _or_** **how they were significant?**

 **As always, reviews are appreciated, I'll** ** _try_** **to post again by next week!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, well, a week late. But it's pretty good, considering it's me!**

 **I'm just gonna do this real quick so we can get to the chapter, because that's why we're all here (duh). XD**

 **Susz: Why, thank you! I try to put a fair amount of humor in my stories, I'm glad you liked it.**

 **TheUnknownBlock: True, very true. And don't worry, though we won't see Sebastian's plot for… I think three more chapters? Anyway, yeah, even though that, he'll still be pretty prominent until then.**

 **Asori: Well, I'm glad you got around to it! I love hearing thoughts about my writing from everyone—then again, who doesn't, on this site? Anyway, yes, that was my intention. Leo just doesn't understand that people actually want to look out for him, he just assumes they're against him. It's a bit of a problem, really XD As for the Sebastian plot, well, that's my fault. I think I left too much of a gap between his sections. Oh, well.**

 **Dirtkid123: I know, I'm a bad person for making my characters do these things. Sorry.**

 **PurpleNicole531: Whoa, long review. (Thanks, by the way! I love long reviews!) So, yeah, I have a lot of drama going on right now, which I actually don't like much of, but it's necessary. And yes, I realized he hadn't seen Adam and Bree much, so I'm putting them in quite a bit more. And Adam and Chase, well, it's an established fact Adam actually does care for his brother. As for the MM trio, well, they're not _super_ important (ha, no pun intended) but they are included and will pop up from time to time. Sebastian… I try to make him more… sympathetic, I think, than he is portrayed in the show. They seem to forget that he was actually a nice guy before he went bad. As for his relationship with Lexi, well, I never said they were siblings…**

 **KillWilson: Thanks, that's what I was going for XD**

 **Thanks for the reviews, everyone!**

 **So, no one did the challenge. That's fine, I might put the answer on my profile when I'm not so tired. Well, moving on to the chapter. Enjoy, everyone!**

 **Quote: "Everyone always says that. I'm too young for this, too weak for that, too slow for this, too impatient for that. No. I'm not."**

* * *

"Where is he?" Logan wheezed as he and Taylor barreled into the med wing, barely even pausing to see who he was talking to.

"Who?"

"Leo," Taylor replied, composed and breathing normally, in contrast to Logan. "He was just here."

Chase's face suddenly closed off, and the whole room could sense his mental defenses going up against their chips despite his constant swaying. " _You_ locked us up?"

"She made me," Logan said instantly, pointing at Taylor.

"Before you say anything," Taylor said, cutting the rest of them off, "I know that it was a bad idea. Yeah. But we had to stop Leo—he was going after Vickers _alone_."

"So, what?" Sabrina, who was holding Chase upright, piped up. "Leo's a really good hacker. If anyone can take Vickers down, it's him. Or you, Chase," she added on as an afterthought.

Taylor shook her head. "Yes, he can get in. But if he does, Vickers will use a virus on his chip and hack into our own database, and maybe kill Leo while she's at it."

"And what, Leo doesn't know about it?" Adam asked, obviously _really_ confused.

"No," Chase realized. "He knows. He was the one to watch her get the virus. He just thinks he can block it." Rubbing his wrists where the cuffs had been cutting into his skin just a minute earlier, he pulled away from Sabrina's grip and stumbled across the room. "The mission—I'm remembering. Leo figured out how to put up chip defenses against Vickers' androids, which I assume are using a more primitive version of the virus Vickers now has. He's going to try to use those when he goes into the Code." He turned back to the group, eyes wide with panic and flickering an uneven mechanical blue. "He'll open the doors to our systems wide for Vickers, and he could get killed."

His words sank in for a moment, but then Adam shattered the silence, a hopelessly confused look on his face—probably at all of the 'technical terms' Chase had been using. "Uh… what?"

Chase just shook his head and turned away, heading for the door, but Sabrina was at his side in an instant, grabbing his wrist. "Chase, you _can't_. You're still too weak, and you're glitching. You can't always be the hero, Chase, you can't save him this time." Chase fixed his gaze on her, and she flinched as his eyes randomly flickered from hazel to blue. "Your eyes… your bionics are on the fritz. Chase, you won't make it," Sabrina insisted.

"I have to," the boy insisted. "We have to split up, spread out around the Academy. Find Leo and explain to him why he can't go after Vickers now, before it's too late!" Once again, he wrenched his arm from Sabrina's hand before turning and running down the hall as fast as his trembling legs would take him.

The rest of them stood frozen for a minute before Taylor snapped, "Well, what are you waiting for? You heard him, split up! Go!"

* * *

Spin hadn't known that there could be so much noise at one time. And he grew up in a large orphanage, so that was saying something.

Standing by the wall, hidden behind Bree, he calmly as possible surveyed the scene surrounding him. Speedsters were rushing in and out, dropping confused looking people in the center of the training area. Bree was shouting to the other officers, questions and answers and orders mixing together. Two boys and one girl stopped in the frenzy for just a moment to talk to Bree, and Spin caught a few of their words.

"We're on full lockdown, Commander S-1 ordered a complete shutdown of computers…"

"… security breach…"

"Skylar, who could have possibly…?"

"… heard it was your brother."

"What could Adam have done that ended this bad, Kaz?"

"Not him. Kaz said he heard it was the pyro…"

"No way, Oliver. Definitely not. It can't be."

"Either way, everyone will stay here until the lockdown is lifted, so stay where you are and…"

That was really all Spin needed to hear. His mentor was distracted, looking confused and distraught at the thought of her brother in trouble. Lexi, the only other teenager around him, was looking preoccupied as she had a hurried and hushed conversation with one of the other girls, Kerry. Everyone else was almost as young as he was, and all of them looked scared out of their wits. No one was paying any attention to him. Like _always_.

"Good," he mumbled under his breath. _Finally_ , he could say that it was 'good'.

No one noticed him grab something from Lexi's jacket pocket, take off, and run out the door.

* * *

So, maybe Sabrina had made a good point—Chase really wasn't strong enough yet to be doing this. His stuttering run had devolved into a slow stumble, and he leaned heavily against the wall. Still, he couldn't give up, not when his brother was in danger.

And, speaking of brothers, Chase really wished he'd remembered to grab comms before he left the med wing, because he had no way to contact Adam. So he had no idea whether Adam had found Leo or not yet…

His thoughts were racing so fast he didn't notice the little black blur that almost plowed right into him. Stumbling back, he stuck out a hand to steady himself, catching himself with the wall just in time. The blur slowed and solidified into a solid—albeit small—form.

"Spin?" he said disbelievingly. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to help take down Giselle Vickers," Spin said earnestly, quickly. "I can help, if you'd just let me!"

"Spin, _no_."

The boy's expression soured. "Everyone always says that. I'm too young for this, too weak for that, too slow for this, too impatient for that. No. I'm not. I'm going, and you can't stop me."

"Yes, I can," Chase laughed.

"No, you can't," Spin insisted. "I've been reading. Your eyes aren't steadying on a color, your bionic eyes are glitching. That implies damage to both the chip and the head. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure I could just walk by you right now, get out of the facility, go to Vickers. I stole Lexi's Virt-Tab and accessed the map we've created." The kid looked smug, tapping the tablet that definitely didn't belong to him. "Maybe I could steal a blueprint or something! I know I won't take her down, I'm not stupid, but I _can_ help."

"Spin, I can't let you do that."

Spin ignored him and legitimately just walked right past him. Chase gritted his teeth, anger igniting in his veins. There was no pull from Spike—not yet, at least—which was good, so Chase urged the spark to grow into an inferno. The furiousness that had become a forest fire pulsed down his arms and to his fingertips, and then shot out, rooting Spin to the spot with an invisible force.

"Hey!" the kid yelped and glared. If the deep scowl written across his expression was any indication, he was trying insanely hard to spin his way out of Chase's iron grip.

But just when Chase thought he'd won, an incredible slice of pain shot through the back of his neck like a knife. The anger in his blood slowly but surely became replaced by pure agony, and it was all he could do to keep Spin down and stop from crying out.

His vision switched to blue, and _that_ was when he truly knew he was in trouble. Numbers and letters flooded his vision, and then all his other power went offline.

Spin stumbled, surprised at the sudden sensation of being free, then transformed back into a black tonado and vanished around the corner.

Chase, however, could barely see that through his clouded vision. He sank back against the wall and to the ground, trying to ward off the pain which had become a dull pounding at the base of his neck.

- _The Blondie did warn you,_ Spike taunted, though his voice was just barely there. Chase managed to push him back. _Her name is Sabrina, you idiot. So why don't you just—_

"Shut up," he mumbled, finishing his thought, his mouth feeling very numb. Focusing on the numbers and his desperation, he tapped into the Academy's systems, traveling through the services until he sensed a bionic chip. The first one he found was Adam, looking inside one of the extra training rooms for Leo. Zooming out his parameters, he hit a spot of very concentrated power, and the feedback was simply incredible. A thousand vague, unclear thoughts flooded into his find, chatter he couldn't actually hear worming through his ears. Wrenching himself away from the main training room, he sent out his sensors, finally hitting the right one.

Leo was just entering one of the Cortex's outer rooms, presumably to open up a cyberdesk and hack into Giselle's network.

 _I'm saving two lives in one go,_ Chase reassured himself before solidifying one single, thin, trembling line of communication between him and his stepbrother.

 _"Leo,"_ he said, unsure of whether he said it out loud or just through the temporary link.

He sensed Leo freeze. _"Chase?"_

 _"Leo, this connection won't last long,"_ he replied hurriedly. _"It's all I could do right now. Just listen. Spin somehow snuck out, and he's trying to prove his worth or whatever by sneaking off to Vickers's android palace. I couldn't stop him, and you're the only one I could reach."_

The protesting undertone of Leo's voice didn't fail to reach him. _"But, Chase, I can stop her…"_

 _"But you could die. And you know that the closer you are to the source, the easier it is to get infected by a chip virus. Spin doesn't know how to put up anti-virus defenses like you do. Please, save Spin before Vickers can infect him close-range. The rest… it isn't a fight we can win today."_ Chase held his breath, waited. _Please._

Then, he sensed Leo sigh, relent. _"Okay. Okay, I'm going after him."_ Then the connection broke, and Chase focused on his labored breathing as he sat slumped against the wall. He would be fine, if he could just catch his breath. Leo and Spin, on the other hand… well, he could only hope.

* * *

 **Ayy, another cliffhanger. Oh, well. Again, I'll try to update soon, and _Six Words_ , too!**

 **Challenge: What color is the blur of Lexi's super speed? And, since no one answered last round, here's a bonus—how is Sebastian's laser weapon different than Chase's?**

 **Reviews are appreciated, see you guys soon!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm finally back! Sorry for making ya'll wait for so long. And thanks to everyone for understanding and sending me nice messages when I put up my notice. It's much appreciated.**

 **Anyway! Congrats to Duggie Davenport, TheUnknownBlock, KillWilson, and Guest for getting both of the challenges right! Brentinator and Caris (guest) got one out of two.**

 **Replies, then on to the chapter!**

 **Brentinator: I'm glad you enjoyed it! (And thanks for the understanding on the notice. :) )**

 **Asori: Aww, you're too kind. And you will find out in this chapter, so… yeah, get excited for that!**

 **Duggie Davenport: I've always seen Spin to be a stubborn kid, if anything. So it made sense for him to do something like that, you know?**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Sorry, it took me a very long time. But it's here now!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Both story lines will be touched upon here, plus a little more insight on the other side. And yeah, irony is always nice. XD**

 **Dirtkid123: Yeah, I'm really putting Chase through the wringer here. Sorry. (Thanks for the kind words on my notice, btw.)**

 **KillWilson: Like I've said before, Spin is a stubborn one. It felt like something he would say. Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest: Yes, dark similes "kinda are my thing". XD**

 **Caris (guest): I think we all do, but some have better memories than others. Thanks for the review!**

 **LRW: (Technically not a reply from last chapter, but whatever.) Thanks again for putting up with my angst. :)**

 **Alrighty, back in the flow! Onwards!**

 **Quote of the chapter: "No need for a war—no point in killing so many."**

* * *

Spin picked his way through the forest, glancing back occasionally to see the Bionic Academy grow smaller and smaller behind him. Pulling Lexi's Virt-Tab from his pocket, he pushed a few buttons and turned on the map, linking it to his chip's GPS. He veered left a little and quickly left the woods, making a beeline toward the hover train line.

"Next one should be in two minutes," he mumbled to himself, turning and walking alongside the tracks as he pocketed the tablet. Unfortunately, without anyone to talk to, he was left to think back on… whatever it was he had done to Chase. He did feel bad about it, of course, be he was more unnerved than anything. Chase had already been weak, and had used his powers, but Spin had felt something snap inside of him when he'd been frozen mid-step. He'd… he had somehow _broken_ the other boy, he knew. He'd sensed the weakness in his mentor and had exploited it.

And what to do with this… new ability, if that was what it was? He didn't want to hurt anyone, except maybe Vickers and her androids…

"Spin!"

It was so faint, he thought he'd imagined it for a second, but someone yelled his name again and he whipped around. Leo was running full-speed after him, running faster than any normal human could have (although definitely not as fast as Bree or Lexi).

"Spin, you have to stop!" Leo shouted again, getting closer and closer.

Spin's instincts kicked in and he whirled back around, his black tornado incasing him and propelling him forward.

"Greenie, I really wouldn't—" there was a hint of a warning in Leo's tone, but Spin shot ahead, and the mentor's words were flung into the winds as Spin ended up a hundred or so feet ahead. Glancing behind him, he saw Leo still running, but even closer was the hovertrain. Reaching out as the train roared past, he grabbed on to a rail on the side and pulled himself in, arm straining to compensate. He tumbled inside, then scrambled to his feet and looked out the open door. Leo was still running, but had fallen behind the train and probably wouldn't be able to catch up.

He heaved a sigh of relief and sank back, trying to calm his breathing.

Really annoyingly, that was the exact moment a cold hand clapped over his mouth and yanked him out of the train.

* * *

It happened in an instant—in one, Spin had been watching him run behind the train, the next, an android had pulled the boy out of the train. With reflexes that he knew he possessed but was constantly surprised at, Leo pulled a small metal button from his pocket and threw it full-force at the android. He saw it latch on magnetically to the metal right before the metallic humanoid disappeared in a puff of black smoke, with Spin in tow.

Leo huffed out an irritated breath as he sped up, falling into step to match the train's speed. Pulling the same stunt Spin had done only a minute before, he grabbed the rail and pulled himself in, making sure not to touch the hover rails and electrocute himself. Landing a lot more gracefully than Spin did (but still very clumsily—he would be the first to admit his lack of coordination, it was a miracle he'd even managed to get the tracker to attach to the android at that distance), he stumbled slightly against the wall and pulled out his own tablet. Quickly synching his chip, he searched for the beacon marking the location of the android. They already knew the locations of several android bases, so most showed up on the map. He was surprised, then, when the beacon showed up right by the edges of the barriers.

 _What used to be there?_ he asked himself, thinking back to a mission about a year before where he, Bree, and Taylor had traveled to the old government facility to salvage any tech or weapons. As soon as they stepped foot on the premises, the building had simply exploded, leaving nearly no sign that it had ever been there.

"I should've known," he muttered, sinking to the floor and shutting off his chip. To cool it and to shut down the GPS. He really would be bitter about the whole "best friend locking him up and then brother diverting him" thing for a while. Sure, he'd let them explain themselves when he got back, but in the meantime, he could sulk a bit. He had two hours.

* * *

 _He hears Bree shout in pain and struggles against the guard even harder, somehow, than he had been before._

 _"_ _Let me go!" he shouts. "Let me go!"_

 _"_ _Get off of me, you—" There's the sound of a fist connecting with a stomach, and Leo's voice cuts off abruptly in a wheeze. Out of the corner of his eye, Chase sees the other boy doubled over. Chase's heart clenches at the thought of his brother getting hurt. But there's nothing he can do. He doesn't have any fighting experience, he doesn't know how they'll get out of this._

 _Each guard is covered head to toe in body armor, and have what appear to be gas masks on their faces. Marcus is hanging limply in the grasp of another guard, and Daniel's guard is lifting him clear off the ground, leaving his legs kicking only air. It would be comical if it wasn't so terrifying._

 _"_ _Who are you?" Adam asks as the guards handling them force them forward, into a large cylindrical chamber. "Where are we?"_

 _"_ _Who I am is unimportant," a different voice says from behind them. Chase twists, trying to see the speaker, but his guard forces him forward. "And you are my guests. You'll be here a while." The man pauses for a moment before ordering, "Begin the process."_

 _Chase feels something cold pressed against the back of his neck, sees each of his siblings receive the same treatment. It's something long and silver, with glowing yellow buttons._

 _"_ _Stop!" he shouts, squirming in his guard's grip, trying to get away from whatever they're pressing to his skin. But as the word leaves his mouth, something explodes from behind them._

 _Shouts ring out, and the man who seems to be in charge gives out a loud gasp. In his peripheral vision, he sees Marcus drop to the floor, limp, and disappear in a frenzy of limbs. Bree gives a strangled shout, and then the same happens to Daniel. And just like that, Chase can't see two of his brothers._

 _"_ _Put them through,_ immediately _!" the man snarls. The chamber door begins to slide closed, cutting off any exit. In synch, the four guards holding him, Adam, Bree, and Leo push the buttons on whatever they have against their necks. A hissing noise fills the room, and gas starts to fill the chamber. A searing pain burns against the base of his neck, and he catches one last glimpse of sunlight through the broken window, past the door. Then everything goes black._

 _He feels the sensation of moving upwards. Then Chase jerks awake._

* * *

Then Chase jerked awake, still in the hallway of the Academy, still alone.

And… he felt fine. Like, perfectly fine.

 _What in the world?_

He scrambled to his feet, reorienting himself as he ran a scan through his systems. When nothing out of the ordinary showed up, he frowned and checked again.

His system came up green again.

"That's not possible," he said aloud. He had been glitching really bad not long before, and he could sense how much damage his system had taken when Spin had broken his hold. (He also made a mental note to yell at the kid when Leo brought him back, because that had _hurt_.)

There was a dull pain in his neck where his chip was, but that seemed to just be the aftermath of it overheating, no further signs of damage. And otherwise, he felt perfectly fine.

 _That is so weird_ , he thought, rubbing the back of his neck. Either way, he supposed, it was probably about time he healed up from all the damage he'd taken over the past few days. And he did have to get back to the med wing and regroup with everyone else.

As he walked back, he vaguely recalled something he'd been thinking about earlier. The dream, for sure, but there was something else. The dream was recurring, and he had it fairly often, but something bothered him about it. He knew what it was, for sure: the day he and his siblings had been captured by someone and put into the simulation. And he never had been able to figure out what the explosion had been, or how Daniel and Marcus had simply… vanished. But there was another detail that was nagging him…

"Chase!"

The med bay doors slid open, and Sabrina ushered him in. She smiled at him, ready to say something else, but he cut her off.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I don't know how, but I'm okay." He looked around, seeing Kate still unconscious in a nearby hospital bed, as well as a few more new faces. "Why are there more?"

Sabrina sighed helplessly. "A few of the smaller kids got trampled in the confusion downstairs, and a few got sensory overloaded. I'm short-staffed, so do you think you could…?"

"I'm barred from training for a few days anyway, so, yeah. I'll help you," he shrugged. "What do you need me to do?"

* * *

"I _knew_ it," Leo hissed, crouching behind a tall outcropping, out of sight of enemy cameras. In front of him lay the old base, still standing and in no way exploded. Taking a few pictures for proof, he captioned:

 **Explosion—faked; Base seized by androids**

It wasn't like he had brought any equipment to break into enemy bases, so he would have to do this more or less from scratch. Fortunately, it didn't appear to be one of the larger bases, so security of its schematics would be less. Activating his bionic eye, he quickly downloaded the information and flagged the holding cells.

"This should be good," he muttered to himself.

* * *

Huddled in the corner of his cell, Spin blinked back angry tears. Just his luck that as soon as he tried to do something good, he'd get captured. And now Giselle Vickers would probably use him as a guinea pig or try to infect him with that computer virus he heard about from the Commanders or something.

Great.

"Spin."

He thought he imagined it at first, but when he heard his name again, he lifted his head. His eyes widened when he saw Leo standing outside of his cell. "How did you—?"

"I managed to track your android friend," the older boy grinned. "You're welcome."

"That's great, good for you, now can you _get me out of here_?" Spin insisted.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. How does this cell even work?" He gingerly poked what appeared to be thin air, but it vibrated when he made contact with the barrier.

"It's controlled by that panel over there," Spin pointed, and Leo turned.

"Oh, that's easy. Hold on a second." He glared at the control box for a moment before opening it and picking out a single wire. Nothing seemed to happen, but he turned back to Spin and grinned again. "Alright, let's go!"

Spin pulled himself to his feet, but winced immediately. "Ankle," he groaned. When the android pulled him out of the train, he seemed to have twisted, maybe even broken, something.

"You gotta be kidding me," Leo said, rolling his eyes again, but gesturing Spin forward. "I'm not carrying you the whole way back."

"Believe me," Spin shot back, "You're not the only one who isn't thrilled about this."

* * *

"Ma'am, a prisoner escaped from Base Twenty-Three—"

"You mean the one you _just_ captured?" Giselle Vickers replied, rolling her eyes as she stared up at her monitor. "The twelve-year-old?"

The android behind her tilted its head awkwardly. "Er—yes, ma'am."

"Ah, well. He's of no importance," she said. "What _is_ of importance is why he left their premises in the first place." Pushing a few buttons on her console, she pulled up a single grainy security feed from the Academy's training room. "Hmm," she noticed, "it appears our luck is holding today. Normally we don't get any connection at all." Zooming in, she laughed at the panic unfolding on the screen. "What's gotten them worked up into such a frenzy? You'd think I'd have declared war on them." Shutting off the footage, she switched over to the long strings of code from the virus she'd stolen. "No, I plan to use this quietly. No need for a war—no point in killing so many. Easier just to make them… vanish."

* * *

 **Boom! That went pretty well, all things considered. Well, I'd love to hear what you think! It's good to be back!**

 **~Em**


	11. Chapter 11

**And… yeah, it took me forever to update. I'm sorry. Life is hard, y'know? Anyway, I might as well just get on with it. So!**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Thanks! And yeah, I had to throw a reference in there. Plus, it's important in the long run, just a heads up…**

 **Anonlabratslover: Better late then never! I'm glad you enjoyed!**

 **Asori: School's making the updating a bit sporadic, so I'm sorry for that. I'm glad you liked it, though!**

 **Brentinator: I'm glad I could cheer you up a little. :)**

 **PurpleNicole531: I can't spoil anything, but I can assure you that it all makes sense in the end. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope this clears a little confusion up!**

 **Also, there's a bit of an important author's note at the bottom, so I'd appreciate it if you just checked that out.**

 **Enjoy, everyone!**

* * *

"Hey!"

Spin crumpled with a shout of annoyance as Leo unceremoniously dumped him on the floor of the hovertrain. Pushing himself off the floor, he glared at the older boy. "What was _that_ for?"

"I _wonder_ ," Leo sniped back before marching out of the car to the next one. He was only gone a second before he popped his head back in. "Is your GPS off?"

"What?"

The mentor rolled his eyes. "Your GPS. Is it off?"

"I didn't even know I had one," Spin admitted, tapping his temple and looking through his files.

"Why am I not surprised?" Leo rolled his eyes again. "That's how the androids found you. There are always some on patrol and basically ping back your signal. Turn it off or Vickers'll track us back to the Academy, which so far we've managed to shield from them." He slammed the door shut behind him as he left the car.

Spin struggled for a minute or two trying to deactivate his locator, but managed it after a few tries. As he did so, he tried to understand how it was that he could spin at the speed of sound and somehow affect bionic chips, but he didn't even realize he had a GPS. And that had gotten him captured. How do you screw up that bad?

"I don't even think you're worth it," Leo's voice said from above him as the mentor walked back in. He sat down in one of the few seats in the train. "I was on the verge of hacking into Giselle Vickers' mainframe. I could have destroyed her, but _you_ decided you wanted to play hero and I had to go save you."

"Where'd you go just now?" Spin asked, ignoring Leo's comment.

He shrugged. "Tried to send a message to Bree. We have to wait until we make it into the clear zone, though, or the androids will intercept it and find us." He shook his head. "It wouldn't be good."

"We can't fight them if they come?"

Leo exhaled. "No. We can't."

* * *

"We don't have much time left," Taylor huffed impatiently as she stormed into Mission Command, Logan trailing after her.

Sebastian jumped, turning to face them. "Yeah, less than a week."

"No, I mean Leo," she shook her head. "Chase diverted him from his warpath and sent him to rescue Spin, but he turned off his GPS so we don't know where he is."

"Wait, Spin?" Sebastian asked, obviously surprised. "The Greenie?"

"Yeah, turns out he's smarter than we thought," Logan chirped. "He managed to sneak out during the chaos. Chase filled us in."

"Unfortunately, they've both gone MIA," Taylor said. "And we have no idea where they went!" She slammed her hand flat on the counter, cracking it.

"That was maybe a little bit of an overreaction."

The three commanders whipped around, finding Leo standing there with a small smug smile on his face, Spin hovering behind him.

"Of course that would be your entrance, you little—" Taylor laughed, cutting herself off. "What happened?"

Leo shook his head. "Long story short, this guy got captured, I broke into that old base that actually isn't exploded like we thought, and I guess my message I sent on the way back never got through."

"Oh, uh…" Sebastian spun in his chair, pressing a few buttons on his console. It beeped once, and he turned back around. "Yeah. We just got it."

"A little late for that," Spin said before almost falling over.

"Oh, right," Leo remembered. "Spin probably needs to get to the med bay. An android injured his ankle."

"Of course," Taylor replied quickly. "Sebastian, can you—"

"Actually, I was thinking Logan could take him," Leo interrupted. "I need to talk to you. Just you."

Taylor shook her head, and Leo's face hardened. "No. Sebastian, take Spin to the med bay. Logan, stay here."

Sebastian nodded, looking relieved to be getting out of the room. "Come on, Spin," he said, ushering the boy from the room.

After their footsteps had gone, Taylor gestured at the conference table. "Sit."

"I'm good, thanks," Leo shrugged, voice a little bitter. "I just wanted to say that I know you locked down the labs. Good job."

"Leo, it's not that we don't trust you—no, really," she emphasized, seeing his skeptical look. "Look. We figured out that Vickers can use that virus she stole from you on anyone who tries to go into her systems. If you were to go in there, she could use a link through your chip to get into _our_ databases. Not only that, she could _kill_ you."

Leo frowned, brow creasing as he thought. Suddenly, he whirled around, turning on Logan. "You didn't think to tell me this when you locked me in the med bay earlier?"

"I didn't—I—"

"Leave him alone, Leo," Taylor ordered. "You know he has trouble relaying instructions. It's not his fault."

"But if he'd just _told_ me that, then I wouldn't have tried to hack into her systems!" Leo shouted. "The risk would never have been so high!"

"Leo," Taylor said, dangerously calm. "It's not like you're blame-free. Get over it."

"Taylor—"

"No." She cut Logan off. "You're both at fault, and so am I. I should have known that something like this would happen. Vickers is clever. She'll do whatever it takes to tear us apart."

Leo sighed, finally dropping into a chair. "What should we do?"

Taylor sat down, as well, and Logan sat down beside her. "First thing's first: how many others know about the code?"

"Uh, not many. Just my siblings, I think. And Sabrina, since she checked out Chase's chip when we got back from the original mission."

"Okay, that's fine, then," Taylor nodded. "Leo, can I trust you to keep this whole virus business under wraps until we figure out how to fight it?"

Leo didn't look happy about it, but he nodded. "Yeah. I guess I can do that. But," he amends, "you can never use those cuffs on me again."

"What if you start sleepwalking and shooting fire everywhere?" Logan asks.

Leo blinks. "Well, I—"

"Or if you get mind controlled?"

"I mean, I wouldn't say—"

"Or if you turned evil?"

"But I—"

"Or—"

"Oh my god, hush!" Taylor yelled, getting fed up. "Yeah, sure, we will never use the cuffs on you again except in those very specific circumstances. Happy, both of you?"

"Uh-huh," Logan nodded contently while Leo just blinked.

"Leo?"

"Um, yeah, I guess?" he said, scrunching up his face in confusion. "Sure."

"Well, then," she said, pushing a few buttons on her watch. The words _LOCKDOWN LIFTED_ flashed on all the screens around the Cortex. "Dismissed."

* * *

"Hey, Leo! Leo!"

Leo ignored the voice behind him, picking up the pace. Unfortunately, the hint wasn't picked up.

"Leo, wait up!" Logan jogged a few paces before falling into step beside him.

"Logan, I'm not in the mood," he said quickly before Logan could launch into a rant about how much he missed puppy videos or something else random he remembered from life outside the sim.

"Oh," he said. "But I thought—"

"That I'd forgiven you?" Leo spat, pouring as much venom into his words as he could. "Logan, you hurt me. Understand? You _hurt me_. You took my powers away from me as my _brother_ lay unconscious in a hospital bed. How could you do that?"

Logan looked like he'd been struck. "Taylor said—"

"I know what Taylor said!" he yelled, throwing his hands up. "I'm angry at her, too. But here's the thing, Logan: you don't need to blindly follow her orders whenever, wherever!"

"Leo, I'm sorry—"

"Save it, Logan," Leo sighed, trying to calm down. "Just… save it." He stormed off, and if Logan called after him, he didn't hear it.

* * *

"More? Are you kidding?" Sabrina looked stunned, like her med bay had never been occupied so fully—it probably hadn't.

"Sorry, Sabrina," Sebastian apologized. "Not to overburden you, but yeah. Hopefully he's the last one, though. Taylor's lifting the lockdown now that everyone's back in the building safely."

"Leo's okay?" she asked hopefully.

He smiled. "Of course."

Someone ran from the back room—Chase. "Did you say that Leo was alright?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah. He and Spin, both."

"Speaking of me," the kid piped up, "can we please fix my ankle? I can't feel it anymore, which I don't think is supposed to happen."

"Right, of course," Sabrina said, picking him up. "Chase, can you get a few ice packs from the back room? I can fix it, but ice will keep down any remaining bruising."

"On it."

As Chase shuffled away, Sabrina turned back to Sebastian. "Thanks for bringing him. And thanks for telling me about Leo."

"Not a problem," he smiled. "I should get back to the Cortex, but just message me if you need any help."

As he walked down a restricted hall, he slipped out the vial he'd been keeping in his pocket. Leaning against the wall, he studied it, frowning. "What do I do?" he mumbled.

On cue, his tablet buzzed, and he took that out, as well. _Tell her,_ the message read. _You'll need her help when the time comes._

 _(Identification: Unknown number)_

Reading the message a few times, he decided. Turning back and going down the hall to the dorms, he steeled himself. "Time to talk to the cousin."

* * *

Locking the door behind him, Leo paced in circles for a few minutes as he tried to refrain from burning anything down. Most everything in his and his siblings' quarters was fireproof, but he didn't want to risk it.

As soon as he'd cooled down sufficiently, he walked over to their monitors and studied the visuals for a moment. Chase was still in the infirmary, helping Sabrina with the many kids. Adam and Bree had obviously been sent to get everyone back to the dorms safely. He watched as Bree herded a group of younger teenagers down the hall, Adam racing a few of his students in the other direction.

Turning off the screens, he collapsed in a chair, leaning back to stare at the ceiling. _How did everything happen so fast? Why is everything happening now?_

He was startled out of his thinking by a loud beep coming from his tablet, which he'd set down on the table. Thinking it was probably one of his siblings asking to be let in, he absently picked it up and opened the message. When he read it, however, it was nothing that he had expected.

 _Leo, just hold on a little longer—if you're alive, that is. We've almost made it through the barriers. We're almost there, you just have to try to last a little longer in there. I hope you're alive. Really._

 _(Identification: Douglas Davenport)_

"That's not possible," Leo said out loud. "That's just not possible."

* * *

 **I'm** ** _really_** **going to try to update sooner this time, I promise I'll try. I have the next chapter all planned out, so hopefully it won't be as long.**

 **So, important note: I've been noticing how increasingly uncomfortable it is for me to be referred to as 'Em'. It's a pretty personal nickname for me, and when I first set up this account I thought it would be nice to have more people call me that. It was okay at first, but now I'm just kinda meh about it. So unless you have explicit permission to use it, I'd prefer if you didn't. I'm very attached to my account name, though, so I won't change that. But… here's a name-change-reveal thing!**

 **Hey everyone, I'm Logan (yeah, like the character from Lab Rats, I know it's a little weird). I'd really appreciate you using that name more. Thanks, all you awesome people!**

 **I'll try to get the next chapter posted as soon as I possibly can. Stay tuned, my friends! I hope you enjoyed!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone, it's Logan (yay, new name, it feels so nice to say)! Okay, so I'm back from my trip and I finally finished this chapter! I'm glad you're all bearing with me, by the way, I know the sporadic updating is a little off-putting. So thanks! Review replies and then we're going to jump right in.**

 **Brentinator: Thank you! And you'll find out now!**

 **Asori: Thanks for understanding. I've got a lot going on, what with finals and stuff, but it's coming to a close so I** ** _should_** **be able to get more writing done. I'm determined to finish this story before slowing down my posting.**

 **Dirtkid123: I'm glad you liked it! And you will definitely get those answers this chapter.**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Thank you! That answer technically comes next chapter, but I will just say yes right now. Yes, they're cousins. And I hope this update was soon enough XD**

 **Anonlabratslover: Thank you, I hope I didn't make you wait too long, and thank you! :)**

 **Layla (guest): Well, emerald is my birthstone, and I just really like tulips. They're just under appreciated flowers, y'know? (My sister is also SapphireRose0417, so you can kind of see we have a theme going lol) I'm not even going to front, it's really nice to have people using my real name. And I'm very glad you love the story!**

 **Okay, so, on with the story! I hope you enjoy, everyone!**

* * *

"For the love of—ugh!"

Bree ducked instinctively at the yell, and a tablet shattered into a thousand tiny pieces against the wall right behind where her head had been. Straightening up, she glared at her brother. "Really, Leo? Was that necessary? I literally just walked in."

He at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry, Bree. I'll clean it later. Just… frustrated."

She sighed. "Leo, you've been 'frustrated' for the past, like, six days. You've locked yourself in our quarters for so long even _Caitlin_ noticed you were gone. I know the timer is down to just about a day, but…"

"I know, I know." He waved her off. "I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble with some coding stuff."

Bree frowned. "And this has nothing to do with fighting the virus…?"

"No," he replied sharply. "I swear. I didn't know what Vickers was capable of that first time, and I'm not going to risk it now." He turned away, opening a drawer to find another tablet.

Bree studied her brother closely. There wasn't anything wrong, per se, but there was just something about him that troubled her. "Leo… are you okay?"

She watched his shoulders rise and fall, watched the way he tensed. "Yes," he said. "I'm fine."

* * *

Leo locked the door behind Bree as she left. Manipulating the visuals on the tablet and logging into his own personal account, he picked up where he had left off. The message glimmered at him tauntingly:

 _Leo, just hold on a little longer—if you're alive, that is. We've almost made it through the barriers. We're almost there, you just have to try to last a little longer in there. I hope you're alive. Really._

 _(Identification: Douglas Davenport)_

"This can't be happening," Leo muttered. Not as in, it was a bad thing, but more like— "This _actually_ can't be happening. It's not possible."

He'd been trying to send messages back ever since he'd received the one from Douglas—if it even was him. Everything had bounced back, and there was no follow-up message from the original sender.

Of course, the typical thoughts crept in—what if it was a trap? What if whoever was running the sim had gotten bored and was stirring up trouble; first with the war and now with this? What if—

 _No,_ he cut himself off. _Focus. You have to be sure it isn't a trick. You have to know this is_ real _._

As soon as he thought it, he laughed. In the world they all lived in, who knew what was real or not?

* * *

"It's only thirty minutes away!"

Taylor heard the panic in her voice, as hard as she'd been working to conceal it. One can only hide their feelings for so long, and she'd been doing it since the timer began.

"Commander, I hear you, but there's no sign of activity from the sectors we suspect android bases are," Janelle called out.

"What about our former base Leo found that they've taken over?" she replied. "Could they be gathering there?"

Janelle shook her head. "I don't know, Commander. I have the outer sectors, Sebastian—S-3—was supposed to be monitoring the sectors you're asking about."

"Well, where is he?"

"I haven't seen him all day," Logan chipped in from his own station.

Taylor chuckled dangerously. "Of course. When we have a _real_ crisis on our hands, he isn't here." She sighed. "I'll take over his sectors for a while. If he's not here by the time the timer goes off, I'm going to go find him."

* * *

Leo was just about reaching his last end. Lacing his fingers together and squeezing so hard the thought he might break something, he refrained from throwing the next tablet.

It's a good thing he did, too, because at that precise moment, it buzzed.

He immediately fumbled for it, sliding a finger across and reading the message.

 _We're sending people through now. Be ready._

 _(Identification: Douglas Davenport)_

"Okay, that's it," he said out loud before sprinting out of the room.

* * *

"Enhance."

 _"_ _Yes, Commander. Enhancing now."_

Listening to the system, Taylor manipulated the visual on the cloaked base until it would no longer zoom in anymore without going blurry.

"I'm not sure what I'm seeing, Logan," she said. "Can you run a scan on this location?"

"Commencing, Taylor," he replied shortly, eyebrows drawn in concentration.

As he did that, Taylor sat back in her chair and stared up at her screen. There wasn't much time left, only eight minutes, and they still had no idea where the fight would come from. She reached into a drawer and pulled out her comms, deciding to call Leo. Just as she was about to press the button, however, two things happened at once: Logan shouted, "Got it!" right as all the power cut out.

She whirled around, com link forgotten. "What did you do!"

Logan held his hands up. "That wasn't me." On cue, the lights turned back on, and she glared at him. "No, I swear! I don't know what that was. But I did get the coordinates—that base is lighting up on our scanners like a Christmas tree. There are definitely androids there—at least three hundred."

"Then that's where they'll attack from," she decided. "And we have to counter that. Jake," she continued, turning to the other commander, "send the coordinates to the soldiers and tell them it's time. We're going right now."

* * *

"It's really important!"

Chase just sighed and shook Leo off. "The battle begins in five minutes, Leo, and we're supposed to be on battlefield command. We have to go to the troops so we can help them while they fight."

Leo shook his head adamantly. "No, I swear, this is more urgent."

"What could be more urgent than war, Leo?" Bree asked, deciding to humor him.

"It's Uncle Douglas."

* * *

Adam frowned as they sprinted down the hall. "So what does that mean, 'we're sending people through now'? Are they inserting people _into_ the sim?"

"I don't know," Leo replied. "All I know is that Douglas, or someone claiming to be him, is sending someone here, and you know there's really only one way into the facility—the Arrival Room."

"Yes, but how do we know that it's actually him?" Chase asked, ever the sensible one. "What if it's a trap?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought at first, too," Leo admitted. "But I've been going over the first message for a week and there're no red flags or anything. Besides, even if it _is_ a trap, we should be there whenever this thing happens, so we can stop it."

In their haste, they almost ran past the Arrival Room. Skidding to a stop, Leo placed his hand on the scanner and the door slid open as they sprinted into the room.

"There's no one here," Bree muttered nervously, looking around the room.

"Yeah, we can see," Leo replied shortly as he opened up his tablet again. _What game are you playing?_ he typed. As soon as he hit send, however, it bounced back and the device began to vibrate.

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Adam asked.

"No!" Leo yelled, about to drop it. At that moment, the buzzing stopped, replaced by a voice.

 _"_ _Guys? Can you hear me?"_

"No _way_ ," Chase yelped. "That's—"

 _"_ _Yes, hello, it's your dad, the one and only Donald Davenport,"_ the voice continued. He sounded strained and tired, but there was a familiar spark of something in his voice, even after four years. _"Help is coming right now. Douglas and I can't get in because we're not bionic, but—"_ static cut him off, and they could only hear a few more words: _"help… going another way… there's something you need to know—!"_ With that, the tablet sparked and died, not hurting Leo due to his powers but still causing his eyes to widen with shock (no pun intended).

"What did he want us to know?" Adam interrupted the silence, referring to their father's last words.

Bree shook her head. "I don't know, I guess—"

There was a clanging that cut her off, accompanied by flickering lights, and the doors in the Arrival Room slid open to let two figures tumble out. As they straightened up, the four siblings gaped, because—

"Daniel?" Chase choked out, looking suddenly as though he might pass out. "Marcus?"

"Yeah, hi, nice to see you," Daniel coughed, plaster dust billowing everywhere as though he had run straight through a wall. "Missed you. Listen, there's something important—"

 _"_ _Final troops, move out!"_ Taylor's voice blared over the speakers. _"The battle begins now!"_

"Oh, that's bad," Marcus groaned, wincing as he moved his neck—there was blood trickling from several wounds on his face and arms. "Yeah, there's a little problem with the 'battle' part of that. They're all going to die. This isn't a sim—it's real."

* * *

 **So… yeah, remember that comment from like six months ago that was like, 'I'm glad this is all so straightforward' and I was just like… 'uh yeah hahaha that's me so simple and straightforward omg lol'? No one remembers? Neither did I until like five minutes ago when I went through the old comments. But yeah, this is why I responded like that, because I had this all planned out and now I realize I added a whole new layer of confusing-ness to it**

 **I'm so sorry**

 **I will try to update asap (I know I say that every chapter but I really mean it this time). Review?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, everyone! Okay, so, it hasn't been a full month since I last updated so I count that as a win. Anyway, I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment with the end of school and final concerts and juries and such, but I took the time to finish this because… well, I'm trying to not give up on this and it does help me relax.**

 **So, replies and then on to the story!**

 **Brentinator: Thank you!**

 **Asori: Yeah, Marcus can be a mixed package. It won't be any different in this story, but I'm doing my best to make his storyline enjoyable. Thanks!**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Yup exactly XD And yeah, I'm glad you're enjoying it. Thank you!**

 **Dirtkid123: I'm glad you like how it's all unfolding! Thanks for the review!**

* * *

 **"** **I've seen an entire city destroyed by the actions of one man, I've seen people burn and families torn apart, and I couldn't stop it then. I can now, so I** ** _will_** **."**

* * *

Marcus and Daniel didn't waste any time for questions; they immediately ran for the door.

"Wait!" Bree yelled. "Hey, guys, _wait_!"

Daniel paused, hand on the door, and frowned. "Look, I know it doesn't make sense, but we _really_ have to go."

"We have to warn anyone before they're hurt," Marcus added. "This is part of a complex plan by one of Dad's competitors. We have to go."

"No, tell us!" Chase insisted, putting up a hand to molecularkinetically seal the door shut.

Marcus glanced at the door and then to Daniel, who shook his head. He sighed. "You remember Krane Technologies? They almost made Davenport Industries totally crash a few years ago? Yeah, Victor Krane kidnapped us and tried to put us in a contained environment—where we are now. We don't know why for certain, but we do know it was a retaliation against our parents. But the day that we were supposed to all be put in, Davenport Industries sent a strike team to get us back. They didn't get there in time to save us all."

"They didn't get there in time at all to stop us from getting chips inserted into us, either," Daniel added.

"Oh, right," Marcus nodded. "Krane stole early-stage bionic technology from Davenport Industries and developed it to make our chips. Again, we don't know why. When we got rescued, Dad made some modifications to ours so they're slightly different from yours, but he couldn't take them out. So we're stuck like this. It's not so bad."

"So that's what happened," Chase murmured, absently tapping his temple. "I remember it so well, but I could never figure out why the explosion happened or where you went. I thought you were dead."

"We all did," Leo added.

Daniel grinned crookedly. "Well, we thought you were, too. But we never gave up the hope that you might not be."

"Wait," Adam said suddenly. "What about Giselle Vickers? She's real then, too?"

"Yes, of course," Marcus nodded. "We don't really know what happened with her. She used to work at Davenport Industries, then switched to Krane Tech, then dropped off the grid completely. We think that at the time she developed her android tech she decided that she was better off away from the government and built herself a new location. Coincidentally, Krane _also_ wanted to steer clear from the government, and he also chose to block off this same area."

"Figures she'd just end up away from all the real fighting," Daniel muttered. Seeing his siblings' looks of confusion, he elaborated, a grim look on his face. "Krane Tech developed weapons that are… dangerous, to say the least. The _official_ story is that several unaffiliated gangs broke into some outer labs and stole the tech, but we know that Krane himself actually distributed them to many of the most dangerous of the population. The government is preoccupied with that. It's not a full-scale world war by any means, but there have been casualties."

Marcus glanced at the door. "Seriously, speaking of casualties, this is an emergency. We really need to go and talk to whoever's in charge."

"That would be Taylor," Leo said at the same time Chase said, "Wait, I have more questions."

Marcus sighed. "Chase, open the door."

"No," he replied stubbornly. "We need to know more before we can do anything."

"You haven't changed a bit," Marcus laughed, casually flicking a finger. The door flew open and Chase stumbled back a step, tripping over his feet. Adam caught him before he fell and glared at Marcus, who shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Let's go, guys."

* * *

"Left, left, left!" Leo shouted as he took the lead, sharply turning down another corridor. Barely pausing to remotely override the door instead of going through the whole entry process, he barreled through the entrance, his siblings spilling into the mostly empty room behind him. "Hey!"

In a flash, Taylor had him pinned against the wall, arm across his throat, cutting off his windpipe. The three other commanders left in the room were on their feet in an instant, their blasters out and pointing toward them. Taylor was strong, for sure, but Leo managed to push her hand away and take a few wary steps back. "Oh my god, Leo, I'm sorry," she grimaced.

"Jeez, Tay," he muttered. " _Ow_."

"Sorry," she said, stepping back and signaling for the commanders to stand down. They did so, slowly returning to their work. "I'm a little on edge. I saw that someone had overridden our locking system, and we just sent everyone out into the field, so—"

"They're gone already?" Bree stepped forward, alarmed.

Taylor looked unnerved. "Well, yes, the timer went off, and—who are they?"

Leo glanced over his shoulder to see who Taylor was looking at. "Oh. That's Marcus and Daniel, our brothers. They forced themselves into the base through the arrival room, to warn us. Taylor," he said firmly, gripping her shoulders. "This is going to sound crazy, but… Taylor, this is _real_. We're all real, we're bionic, we're soldiers. It's all real. My family's company is under attack and _that's_ why we're here. A man named Victor Krane is using us to destroy each other."

Taylor didn't speak for a few seconds, but when she finally did, her voice had an edge like an iron sword. "That's not even the craziest thing I've heard this week. What do we need to do?"

Marcus stepped forward. "Not to speak out of turn…?"

"Commander," Taylor supplied, her posture straightening, letting Leo's hands slide from her shoulders, and her tone reverting back to her crisp, firm "leader voice".

"Not to speak out of turn, Commander, but your soldiers are in very real danger. You need to get the. to pull back, _now_. They will die if you don't." His voice adopted his own razor sharpness. "I've seen Krane tear the world outside of this bubble apart. I've seen an entire city destroyed by the actions of one man, I've seen people burn and families torn apart, and I couldn't stop it then. I can now, so I _will_. Daniel and I are willing to provide any assistance we can. We don't want to see a repeat of what already happened."

"Thank you," Taylor replied, nodding firmly. "I truly appreciate it. Logan," she called, turning back to the three Commanders remaining in the Cortex, "I take it you've been listening to the whole conversation, so you know the stakes. Can you get a signal out to the troops?"

"It'll take time, Commander, but I think I can do it," he nodded.

"How long?" Daniel asked, voice tinged with impatience.

Logan shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Two, three hours, I'd estimate."

"That'll be too late," Chase pointed out. "And even if—"

Suddenly, Sebastian's console lit up, and Logan flinched, sending papers flying. Since S-3 was nowhere in sight, Taylor sped into the seat and was typing in an instant, muttering to herself all the while. "Oh no oh no oh no…"

"What happened?" Adam asked, eyes wide.

"We're picking up _hundreds_ of android signals, appearing out of nowhere, heading right toward our troops." She typed furiously, but the light only seemed to intensify. "No, _thousands_. That's too many, that's too many…"

"And I can't get the signal out," Logan called miserably. "Vickers must have done something to our comms, because this encryption is going to take hours for someone even as good as Chase or Leo to get through."

"Well, good news, we can still communicate with our parents," Daniel informed them. "The systems they were using to contact you aren't part of your main virtual, so to speak, infrastructure."

"But what about the students?" Bree asked. "We can't leave them out there."

"I'll go," Marcus replied firmly. "I'll go out to warn them."

"What?" Chase said, aghast. "Marcus, you don't even _know_ them, you don't have to—"

"But I have to," he insisted. "My chip is significantly different from yours, whatever tricks Giselle Vickers has in store won't work on me. Plus, I'm very fast. I can speed through the field, tell everyone to retreat. I'll be back before you know it."

"It's our only option," Taylor agreed. "And it's a good idea."

Daniel's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. "Hey. It's from Dad. He's apparently going to try to find another way in, since the Arrival Room or whatever it's called scans for bionic chips. He said that we have to stall for time until they can get in."

"Exactly," Marcus nodded. "I'll be back soon." With a gust of wind, he was gone.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed, guys! Things are definitely starting to ramp up, and I hope you like where this is going. We'll be returning to a few more story lines soon enough, and I promise this will all start making sense soon.**

 **(And if you were interested, the song[s] I was listening to for this chapter was "Little Game" and "Boys Will Be Boys" by Benny, not really because there's a relevance, but I just really like the messages.)**

 **Reviews are appreciated! I'll see you guys soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, everyone! I think I'm keeping up with this story a little better now that I have more time. So. Let's see how long that'll last.**

 **Brentinator: Thanks! That's what I was going for XD**

 **Dirtkid123: Thanks, yes, kind of yes, and thanks again!**

 **Asori: I know it doesn't really make a lot of sense (and it won't _really totally completely_ make sense until chapter… 33?) but I have a direction. Yeah, I have a lot of chapters planned but I know exactly how this all fits together. And of course, if you think that something doesn't make any sense at all, you can always message me about it so I can see if that was a plot error or something. Thank you!**

 **Duck Life: You had a lot of comments, so I'm going to respond in a PM, but basically, thanks for all the awesome, informative comments!**

 **Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

* * *

 _"Who should I look for?"_ Marcus asked, voice blaring into the Cortex. The sound of rushing wind muffled his voice, but they could still make out what he was saying. _"Who will be able to get the word out fast?"_

"Speedster, for sure," Leo said, not tearing his eyes away from the screen watching Marcus' progress. He was only about a minute or so away from the army.

Chase nodded. "Try Skylar. Her suit is easy enough to find, and she's fast enough to spread the word."

Taylor nodded, putting a hand up to her ear and activating the comm. "Okay, Marcus, look for Skylar. She'll be wearing black, like almost everyone, but her suit has some blue and pink on it. She has dark hair with a pink streak. No one else in the army does, so there shouldn't be a mixup. Tell us when you spot her."

"Guys," Adam said, "I think the fighting's started."

"Oh, it has, it totally has," Bree groaned, hands coming up to frame her worked face, watching as the dots on the screen started to collide. "Is Marcus there yet?"

"Thirty seconds."

After what felt like an eternity, Marcus' voice blared through the speakers once more.

* * *

"I'm here!" he said—or, rather, shouted—into his comms.

 _"Find Skylar, quickly, and hurry back,"_ Chase said, so much worry seeping into his voice Marcus could hear it even through the poor connection.

"Will do," he answered. "Skylar!" he shouted, practically materializing directly into the fray. He instinctively ducked as a plasma ball was hurled right where his head would be, and an android a few feet in front of him received it right in the face.

"Yeah," a voice behind him said, accompanied by a flash of pink. "I'm Skylar. Who are you?"

He turned, coming face-to-face with a girl matching the description Taylor had given him, holding up a hand still crackling with energy. "Hi—" He deflected a stray fireball. "Hi, I'm Adam, Bree, Chase, and Leo's brother. Or cousin, legally. But I came to warn you that—ow!"

As Marcus toppled to the ground, Skylar spun around and sent another plasma ball at the android that had hit him. This one took two hits, but it went down anyway. She turned back to Marcus. "Are you okay?"

He hissed in pain as she touched his side and brushed her hand away so he could clamp a hand of his own over the wound. Some sort of ice. Frostbite of some kind. "Yeah, fine. I heal fast. But Skylar, Taylor sent me because you're a speedster and can get the word out. You need to get everyone to retreat, because this isn't a simulation, it's real life. You will all die if you don't get out. We need a new strategy. You need to get everyone to retreat!"

Skylar's face had gone white, but she nodded. "Okay. Okay. I can get everyone back. Just… stay here, okay? Stay here!" She turned, calling, "Kaz! Emergency! We need to find Oliver!"

A dark-haired boy, evidently Kaz, turned, eyes fiery—literally. "I know where he is. Give me a lift?"

Skylar glanced back at Marcus. "Stay here. We'll fix this as fast as possible." She turned into a blur, and both she and the other boy vanished.

Marcus knew she meant well, but he definitely wasn't going to heed her words. Gritting his teeth, he stood shakily, hand tightening at his side. Unfortunately, his jerky movements caught the attention of an android, which turned to him with its creepy glowing eyes. He threw up a force field, but it was weak. His injury was seriously impeding on his focus. Nevertheless, he tried to urge the force field to get bigger, to surround him in a bubble. It worked, but the usual blue of the energy faded to a grayish off-white. The android took a swing, and he cried out. The force field flickered and held, but he fell to his knees.

"You're one of the Davenport boys," the android said. "I recognize you."

He glared up—the voice was unfamiliarly robotic, but the speech pattern was not. "Giselle Vickers?"

"You've grown up nicely," the android mused in Vickers' tone. "The last time I saw you was right before I quit your father's company. But boy—Mr. Krane really did hate you. I remember hearing about his plan to kidnap you, before I left Krane Tech. Took quite a while, but here we are."

"He didn't kidnap me," Marcus replied through clenched teeth. "I'm stronger than that. I wasn't back then, but I am now. Anything you remember about me will be useless now."

The android tilted its head. "Maybe so." It raised a hand and brought it back down, and Marcus saw black.

* * *

Marcus' GPS blinked out.

"Wh-what happened?" Bree gasped. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know," Leo replied quickly, tapping the comms he'd taken from Taylor, exchanging a look with Daniel. "He was talking to an android, he mentioned Giselle Vickers, and all of a sudden he just stopped."

"They must have done something him," Chase murmured before repeating it louder. "Vickers could have taken him. Or hurt him, or even killed him." He stood. "We have to find him."

"And we will," Taylor nodded, sliding her chair out from her desk and heading to the door. "I'm going to find Sebastian and then we can figure out what to do next, okay?"

"Give us a heads up when you're coming back," Adam said. "And if you pass the cafeteria, can you grab me a sandwich or something?"

She stared up at him, slightly disbelieving, before speaking in a deadpan. "I'll figure it out."

* * *

 _{{Incoming Message}}_

 _Dear Sebastian,_

 _I put you through this. I put you into the simulation. You won't understand why, so I'm going to do my best to explain it._

 _My name is Victor Krane, and you are my son. Lexi is my niece, your cousin. You both can't remember me because if you did, it would ultimately make it harder for you to blend in with the other subjects. I made sure you forgot. But if you help me, I will have the opportunity to pull you out and restore your memories. I will tell you what I can._

 _A few years ago, a company rival to mine tried to steal my technology and bankrupt me. That company was Davenport Industries. I was creating new ways to fight, new ways to_ live _—but they opposed my research. I took children, participants, and gave them bionic abilities and an environment that they could learn to use them in. The Davenport children got mixed up in the whole affair and ended up accidentally getting inserted into the "simulation". Davenport Industries has been after me ever since._

 _But, son, I know how to fix this. The army in training can be used to protect the world from danger. Dangerous gangs have stolen my tech and now the world is in danger, and Davenport Industries is secretly supplying them with resources. If you can control the army, finish training them, and bring them to me, then we can save the world._

 _Your father,_

 _Victor Krane._

 _Another note: I know much still isn't clear. I have installed an app onto your device. There are two ways to use it: direct touch and a beam. Activate it through the beam for anyone you deem useful. Activate it through touch, for only you and Lexi, and all will make sense._

 _{{End Message}}_

* * *

The icon was labeled "Triton". Sebastian pressed it.

* * *

"I don't know, Seb," Lexi sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as she sat in an uncomfortable chair in Sebastian's quarters. "This feels… wrong."

"I know, Lex," he said, stopping his pacing. "I know, it makes no sense. But please, touch the app. It makes it so much easier to understand! Trust me on this, cousin."

She hesitated, then reached out for the tablet. "Okay. I trust you," she whispered, touching the button.

Immediately, she sat up straighter, face slackening. Her eyes flickered green for a moment before fading back to brown.

"You okay, Lexi?" Sebastian asked cautiously.

She blinked dazedly at him, glancing around as if she had forgotten where she was. Looking back at him, she grinned. "Never better."

* * *

 **For the people asking about what happened to the Sebastian arc—here ya go. It's not ending now.**

 **Well! Questions, comments, concerns? Leave a review, and I'll update ASAP!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey, everyone! I've more or less stayed on schedule, which is good. Oh, and thanks for 100 reviews, guys! I'm going to jump right in, replies and then the chapter.**

 **Duck Life: Thanks so much for all the reviews! You've got a lot of ideas, and honestly, you're not that far off from what'll actually happen. Feel free to PM me with questions, because I actually hadn't thought about a lot of that and it would be great to talk about!**

 **Dirtkid123: Yeah he has. Whoops on his part. He's dug himself quite a deep hole, and I'm only planning on having him dig it deeper.**

 **PurpleNicole531: Hey, good to see you back! So I think most of your questions were answered in the chapters after you reviewed (and yeah, they were never in a sim in the first place, they were just fooled into thinking they were). But thank you for raising an important question I should have answered earlier.**

 **NOTE FOR EVERYONE TO READ: One important thing I probably should have specified when I introduced the Mighty Med kids: this is a superhero-free world. Not because they don't exist, just because they're either dead or in hiding thanks to Krane, and they won't be important to this story. The Mighty Med kids are normal humans who got kidnapped and placed into the "simulation", like the rest of the soldiers. Their bionics are the same as their superpowers in the show-verse, more or less (I amped Kaz and Oliver up a little, Skylar down). Thanks for the great questions, everyone!**

 **Alright, that's all for replies. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Sebastian!" Taylor shouted, banging on the door. _Oops_.

"I'm sorry?" he offered loudly, glancing over at Lexi apologetically. Lexi was still blinking slightly dazedly, green hazing in and out of her irises. He tapped her, and she shook herself out of the daze, eyes stopping their flickering and fading back to brown.

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Taylor yelled, definitely quite angry. "You were due to be in the Cortex ages ago!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, holding out a hand and gesturing for Lexi to stand. "There's been a… new development."

"No kidding," Taylor scoffed, and he could practically see her shaking her head. "Now, open the door or I'm breaking it down and dragging you back to Mission Command myself!"

"Alright, alright." He stood and put a hand on the panel controlling the door, giving Lexi a look to communicate his plan. She nodded, somehow understanding, stepping next to him. He pressed a button, and the door slid open.

"Finally," Taylor grumbled, walking in. She turned, and at the sight of Lexi her eyebrow raised. "Lexi, what are you—?"

Lexi raised the tablet and activated the Triton App beam. A green light washed over Taylor's face, and she stilled.

Sebastian grinned. "Well. That was easy." He glanced down at the tablet, setting it down on his chair. "Dad gave me enough information to pull this off. Let's go."

* * *

"I found him," Taylor announced as they marched back into Mission Command. "And Lexi, too. She missed the leaving time. But they have something important to tell us, apparently."

"Yeah, we do," Sebastian, agreed. "We intercepted a few transmissions from outside—it turns out that this isn't a sim, this is real life."

"We knew that already, actually," an unfamiliar boy called out from where he was sitting on top of a console.

Sebastian frowned at him. "Who are you?"

"This is Daniel, our brother/cousin someone related to us it's complicated," Bree explained. "He was sent by our parents to help us get out of this contained environment."

Lexi blinked. "Oh. Kay. Well, we have more. There's a man named Victor Krane, and—"

"He hates our parents so he's taking revenge on us and the world by training us to be his personal army to take over the world," Chase finished. "Yeah, we got the memo."

Sebastian and Lexi glanced at each other. Sebastian sighed. "Okay, well did you know that our designations have meanings?"

Adam sat up. "Ooh! Like a horoscope?"

"No, Adam," Sebastian sighed. "The codes we were given, the stuff on your wrist. You guys are OA because you were the original attempt. I guess because this Krane guy hated your family he ran the bionic experiment on you guys. The rest of us are all S because we're soldiers, perfected afterward."

"You see, that actually makes sense," Leo agreed. "But, after we're oohing about tattoo fortune telling, we really should get back to looking for Marcus."

"Marcus?" Lexi frowned.

"Our other brother/cousin person related to us it's complicated," Chase supplied, echoing Bree's earlier words. "He went out to warn the army that they needed to retreat since this is real life, but he vanished off the grid. We're trying to find him."

"Oh, no need for that," and tired voice called from the doorway. "I'm fine, and I can help."

"Marcus! How did you escape?" Chase cried out, shooting to his feet. "We had no idea what happened!"

"An android grabbed me and geoleaped me to Giselle's base," Marcus explained, collapsing into a chair. "I managed to break out, do some poking around. So, good news, I can give you information about the base, _and_ I can pinpoint it on a map. I can also probably find the easiest, fastest way inside."

"There's bad news, isn't there?" Leo sighed. "There's always bad news."

"Unfortunately," Marcus agreed. "Before I could block her out, she managed to read my chip a little and get some information. Not much, just the stuff I know about the war. She also said she knew Krane when he was plotting this whole thing, and she's… invested, per se. She told me that the fight has turned into a three-way war: us versus her versus Krane. And she's in it to win."

"Great, so we have to fight her _and_ Krane?" Adam cried. "That's unfair!"

"No one said it would be fair," Taylor sighed. "But for right now, I say we focus on getting everyone back inside the base as fast as possible. I sent Logan out to check the perimeter, but once he gets back he can supervise the Cortex with Leo while we guard the entrances."

Leo grimaced. "Taylor, I don't—"

"Whatever hard feelings you have, you have to put them aside for now," she replied coldly, and for a second Leo could swear her eyes turned mechanical green. Then Sebastian looked at her, and she turned away. He must have imagined it. "That's an order." She marched out, everyone else filing after her.

* * *

"This is working out well," Sebastian noted as he walked down the hall with Lexi and Taylor. "They don't know I'm Victor Krane's son, or what we're going to help him do. They only know a portion of the truth, and now we can work on planning an overthrow of this Academy to help my father."

"I have an idea," Taylor offered.

"Hmm, the drone has an idea," Sebastian laughed, obviously pleased to be in charge in this power switch. "Sure, go ahead."

Taylor, even under control of the app, managed to look insulted. "I know a place hidden from our scanners. I built a small base there ages ago, and we can use it to figure out our next moves."

"That's actually smart, Seb," Lexi said, shrugging. "We really could use an isolated place."

"Fine, we can do that." he sighed. "Now," he grinned. "Let's talk rebellion."

* * *

"Yes," Marcus muttered into the comm link. He held the comm away from his ear as the loud, frustrated voice. "Yes, _yes_ , I got it. They don't suspect a thing."

 _"_ _Are you absolutely sure?"_ Giselle asked him as he brought the comm link back toward his face, micro-managing as always.

He rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see. Actually, it was probably better that she couldn't see that. "Yes. They just trusted me to guard one of their main entrances. Alone. I think that counts for something."

He heard her sigh. _"You're much more cooperative than your human counterpart."_

"Well that's funny, considering we have the same personality and everything," he replied. "Literally the only difference is that I've got metal for bones. And I'm working for you."

 _"_ _You have certainly retained his pleasure of annoying me,"_ Giselle huffed. _"But, oh, I do wish I could kill the Davenport boy now. He's so annoying, he won't stop screaming… but a bionic teen will prove useful to our experiments, I suppose. Just remember: stay on the mission. The boy from the base that they destroyed was partially infected by the virus, and I need him alive if I'm going to finish what I started. I'm trusting you on this."_

Marcus nodded solemnly. "Of course. I won't fail you. It will be a challenge getting Leo out of the Academy, but I swear to you, I can do it."

 _"_ _Are you sure you're up for this?"_

"Of course," he grinned. "I'm an android, aren't I?"

* * *

 **I'll update ASAP! Reviews are, as always, appreciated.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey, everyone! I've been in much better spirits now that I'm pretty much done with school for the year and don't need to put up with my classmates. (Sure, they're not all bad, but the ones that are… well, they're just horrific.)**

 **Anyway, you guys know the drill. Replies and then on to the story!**

 **Brentinator: That's what I was going for! Thanks!**

 **Dirtkid123: Well, that's good that you got what was happening, I was afraid I wasn't explaining it well. Anyway, thank you!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Yeah, it's a goal to throw in as many situations and references as I can. I'm glad you're liking it, thanks so much!**

 **Duck Life: Hey, don't feel too bad for her. She's kind of awesome whether she's evil or not, so she's going to have a lot of amazing moments. She's one of my favorite characters, so I'm doing my best to do her justice. Thanks for the review!**

 **Asori: Okay, that's good. I was very worried I'd written myself into a plothole or something that I'd somehow missed. Anyway, thanks!**

 **Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

* * *

"If we're going to relocate to the secret base, we have to make sure no one sees us."

"No, really?" Lexi rolled her eyes, grabbing Sebastian's arm to stop his pacing around the empty classroom. "I thought we wanted the whole Academy to know we're traitors."

"Shut up, both of you," Taylor said levelly. "Or you _are_ going to alert the entire base to our plans."

"There isn't even anyone here," Sebastian protested. "Everyone's still retreating." His eyes suddenly hardened. "And watch your tone. Remember who's in charge here."

Taylor grinned wolfishly. "'Here' is the Academy. And the person in charge of the Academy would be me." She leaned closer in, and Sebastian in turn moved away. "I may be a part of _your_ little rebellion," she said, eyes flashing green, "but let's remember who's _really_ calling the shots."

Sebastian glanced at Lexi for help, but his cousin just chuckled. "Don't look at me, Seb. This was your idea. Besides, I like her."

"Thank you, Lexi," Taylor replied, backing off a little. "Now, what do you suggest we do next?"

* * *

Spin walked down the halls, stopping every now and then to flex his foot. After a week, thanks to Sabrina's speed-healing abilities, his ankle had nearly completely healed. He had the sneaking suspicion that she'd deliberately slowed down the process so he wouldn't try to sneak out again—but really, Spin couldn't blame her. Or the people who had ordered her to do it.

Probably Leo. He'd punch him later.

At least he'd had time to reflect on whatever was happening with his powers. He definitely hadn't forgotten what he had done to Chase (he did still feel bad about that). He'd been practicing while in the med wing—well, "practicing" was a generous term.

—

It had only happened once, but when a pyrokinetic by the name of Jenny was brought in, he had automatically sensed something was wrong. He'd sat up on his cot, watching worriedly as Bree put her—dropped her, really—onto a cot of her own. Jenny was breathing rapidly, eyes squeezed shut and hands flailing. She almost hit Bree in the face.

"Sabrina!" Bree had shouted, trying to find the medic. "Sabrina, we have a _major_ glitch here!"

Sabrina didn't appear, however, and a high-pitched whine started to build from where Jenny was lying.

Bree was on the other side of the room in a flash. "Cover your ears!" she shouted at the other patients. "She has sonic screaming!"

And if that didn't terrify Spin more than a little—well. He was _extremely_ scared.

Something in him snapped, just like it had when Chase had been glaring at him with those flickering blue-hazel eyes as he was frozen in place. He sensed something, only comparable to _hearing_ a light turn off, and then Jenny went silent.

"Bree!" Sabrina shouted, appearing suddenly at the door. She ran over to the unconscious girl. "What happened to Jenny?"

"I—I don't know," Bree stammered. "She was glitching really badly and all of a sudden she just… stopped. Maybe her chip overloaded?"

"That would be bad," Sabrina said, hand glowing slightly as she held it in the general direction of Jenny's neck. She frowned. "That's weird."

"What's weird?"

"Her chip is just… turned off," Sabrina explained. "It's like something remotely controlled it to shut down."

Bree frowned, too. "Is that… good?"

"The way it's been done, _yeah_ ," Sabrina replied incredulously. "There's no damage to the chip _or_ the body whatsoever." She put her hand down. "Jenny should wake up by herself… I'm not sure about her chip, though. It's a very thorough shutdown, so there's no telling whether it will reactivate on its own or if it needs a jumpstart."

Listening to Sabrina, something clicked. Spin turned his eyes to Jenny, furrowing his brow. He had no idea how to do this; the last two times he'd done anything at all had been complete accidents. But, maybe…

He ground his teeth, eyes narrowing to slits. Then—

Jenny sat up with a gasp, eyes flaring fire-red for a moment before fading to normal. Sabrina screamed as Bree let out a surprised _hngg_ and tripped backwards.

"Cool," Spin had muttered drowsily to himself, drained, sinking back down to his pillows. "I'm… I'm gonna take a nap now."

—

He hadn't tried shutting down any more chips since then, mostly because he'd been focusing on getting his ankle back in order and _not_ passing out. That didn't mean that he hadn't thought about what he was going to do with the new ability, though.

"—but you know what I mean!"

A voice from inside one of the classrooms interrupted his thoughts, and Spin turned to the source. A closed door.

"Except I don't, Sebastian," another voice, higher-pitched, replied. "I mean, Taylor offered us an awesome base to use for our mission, but you're not exactly giving us a cohesive plan."

"Then you come up with your own plan, Lexi," Sebastian replied. "Or how about lovely, wonderful, genius Taylor?" Mockery dropped from every word, and someone—probably Taylor—let out an annoyed huff. Spin crept closer to the door, careful not to make a sound.

"We would, but _you're_ our leader, right?" Lexi shot back smugly. "I haven't been here for long, and Taylor's under _your_ mind control. So come on, cousin, give us something to work with here. We can't exactly stage a rebellion without good ideas."

Spin froze. They were talking about a rebellion. With not one, but _two_ commanders. And _mind control_. What was he going to do?

* * *

Leo sighed heavily, spinning in his chair as he waited for Logan to come help him monitor the Cortex.

"Why is it that everyone else gets to do something fun and I'm just stuck here watching blank computer screens waiting for a friend I'm still mad at to help me?" he asked out loud.

Obviously, the air gave him no answer, but the console in front of him beeped. On reflex, he pressed the button to open it. His following thought was _no, this is private mail and I should close it now,_ but before he could do that something caught his eye.

The message was simple: _Is it to be done?_

The identification name, however, was more of interest. Because directly below the message were three words: ( _Identification: Victor Krane)_

Leo shook his head. Why would this be sent to someone in Mission Command? Unless…

 _Oh, no,_ he thought. _Oh, no. There's a spy. A turncoat._

He checked the desk's ownership log, and his blood ran cold. S-3, AKA Sebastian. In all of three seconds, he'd torn down (admittedly mediocre) firewalls and could only watch as the whole plan unfolded.

 _He's Lexi's cousin._

 _He's Krane's_ son _._

 _He_ stole _abilities._

 _Krane changed the story._

 _They're going to try to control the army._

 _They're going to destroy the world._

Leo was up and out the door in an instant.

 _I have to stop this._

* * *

Skidding around the corner, Leo opened his mouth when he saw the small figure crouched outside the door to a classroom. "Sp—"

The boy shook his head furiously, holding a finger up to his lips. He squinted at Leo, and suddenly words appeared in his bionic vision.

 _SEBASTIAN, LEXI, AND TAYLOR ARE IN THERE TALKING ABOUT A REBELLION_

Leo's jaw dropped, watching the letters type themselves. "How—"

 _SHUT UP, THEY'LL HEAR YOU!_

Leo shrugged helplessly. _How am I supposed to talk to him if I don't even know how he's doing this?_

 _I CAN HEAR WHATEVER YOUR CHIP DOES_

Leo wrinkled his nose, trying to project his thoughts onto his chip like he did on the rare occasions Chase did his creepy mind-link thing. **that's weird. what do you know?**

 _TAYLOR'S BEING MIND CONTROLLED BY SEBASTIAN. IT'S SOMETHING CALLED THE TRITON APP. I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO THEM TALK—SEBASTIAN KEEPS MENTION HIS DAD, AND I'VE HEARD THE WORD 'CONTROL' THROWN AROUND A LOT_

 **i knew it. i found sebastian's communications with krane. he wants to control the bionic army. i have to stop this.** He started forward, but Spin held up a hand.

 _WAIT! THEY HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN FOR THIS. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?_

Leo shrugged. **probably just knock them out and lock them in the holding cells downstairs. then figure out their plans and if they had any contingencies.**

 _THAT'S A TERRIBLE PLAN! THEY'LL KILL YOU!_

Leo rolled his eyes, fed up. "Get out of my way, kid!" The three voices inside the room stuttered to a halt, and he started forward.

Spin's face twisted. "I'm sorry, Leo." His eyes flashed blue, and Leo's world turned black.

* * *

Sebastian opened the door.

Spin looked up at him, solemn. He silently gestured at Leo's limp form. Taylor and Lexi quickly dragged Leo inside, and Sebastian pulled Spin after, too, before closing the door again.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Spin shrugged. "I think I've proven my loyalty with _that_." He pointed at Leo again. "I'm offering up my services—and powers, of course. Of my own free will, I want to join your rebellion."

* * *

 **Reviews are, as always, very welcome and appreciated! Thanks for reading, everyone, and I'll try to update soon.**


	17. Chapter 17

**So… this might sound weird, guys, but the music I was listening to as I wrote this chapter was the** ** _The Lightning Thief: The Musical_** **soundtrack. It's… actually quite good, much better than the movie adaptations were. The books were obviously the best, though—I love Rick Riordan. (Just, why does everyone insist on pronouncing Thalia's name like 'Talia' in all these adaptations? That's not what it is and it bothers me a** ** _lot_** **!) But… yeah, it's a really good, funny musical and I actually kind of want to see it now.**

 **What is my life.**

 **Anyway! On a more serious note, I'm going on vacation until August sixth, and though there** ** _might_** **be updates between now and then, I wouldn't count on it. Just a heads up.**

 **Okay, replies really quick and then we'll get on to the story!**

 **Brentinator: I already answered this through PM, but once again, thanks for reviewing!**

 **TheUnknownBlock: It's prbably my fault since I don't update on a schedule so it's basically always out of the blue and like at 2:00 am and no one actually is going to read this then XD As for the antagonists… there's like, ten of them? I guess? I don't know, We have Krane and Giselle and all their lackeys, so that's… yeah, that's like ten of them. There really is no "main" enemy. Thank you for the review!**

 **ishi (guest): Thank you!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Yes, he definitely does. Both in-show and in this story, that's how he always lands himself into trouble. As for the other stuff, you'll find out shortly! Thanks for the review!**

 **Asori: Yeah, I'm definitely planning on dragging it out, just because I know everyone had a question about it. You'll be seeing Spin sporadically for a while, but the plot line** ** _will_** **be resolved. Thank you!**

 **Duck Life: I feel like throwing the little kids into the middle of a conflict is a good way to keep the interest alive, you know? It's hard to do much to them because I, at least, feel bad about hurting them, but… the story goes where it goes. Thanks!**

 **Dirtkid123: Only time will tell. Thanks for the review!**

* * *

Leo groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and pressing a hand to his head. The ground was hard under his hand as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Cracking his eyes open just a slit, he noticed that it wasn't very bright and began to ease his eyelids open. _What happened?_

"Hey, Leo."

He jumped, startled, but winced immediately. His neck really _hurt_. And so did his head.

"Wow, this is sad," the voice said, amusement seeping into their tone. "Can't even hold up your head."

The words sent a pulse of anger through him, and he forced his eyes open. "Ow." Then he yelped.

Taylor was leaning against the wall outside the room he was sitting in, smirking slightly. "Hi."

The sight of her made him scramble to his feet. "Taylor!" He started forward, then stopped. "Wait. Are you…"

"Really working for Sebastian?" she finished, and he nodded lamely. She rolled her eyes. "No." Leo's heart soared, but her next words smashed his hope into the ground. "I'm working _with_ him. If anything, he's working for _me_."

Leo felt his face crumple. _No… Taylor…_

She laughed at his expression. "Wow. I really got your hopes up for a second there, didn't I? You know, if there's one thing you learn from this, I really hope that it's to _stop eavesdropping on people_. Seriously, so rude!"

"Well… maybe you shouldn't plan to overthrow your own army!" Leo retorted, aware that it was a weak comeback.

She shrugged. "I mean, technically I'm not overthrowing anything. It's still _my_ army. I'm just changing the purpose."

He rubbed a hand over his face. "But… Taylor, _why_?"

Her face grew solemn, the smirk washing away. Her eyes flashed poison green. "Sebastian and Krane are calling the shots now. It's not up to me. It's all I can do to retain my own power."

Leo took another step forward. "Taylor, you're _stronger_ than Sebastian is! You can beat whatever he did to you!"

"It's called the Triton App," she corrected. "And even if I wanted to, I probably couldn't. It's got a pretty good encryption."

"You do realize you're calmly narrating your own mind control, and ultimately your demise, right?" he told her, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I'm aware. But I like to think of it less as mind control and more of something that… clears my head a little."

"Taylor, you have to snap out of this," he insisted, taking another step forward.

She quickly lifted a hand. "I wouldn't do that."

At those words, Leo threw all caution into the winds and rushed forward. Almost instantly, he bounced off of some invisible force and was thrown back. He landed on his shoulder, hard, and there was a popping sound. Definitely dislocated. "Ow!"

"I guess I forgot to mention that you're in the prison under the Academy," Taylor said idly as an afterthought. "And that your chip is disabled."

He hissed as he staggered back to his feet. "We haven't had to use this. _Ever_. And that force field really hurts!"

She shrugged. "Well, the secret base my little rebellion has not far from here doesn't have a finished prison yet. And yes, that's the point."

He took a few shaky steps forward, stopping short of the force field. "Well, what do you plan on doing with me?" he demanded. "I know your plan now. _And_ I know you have a base. You can't just leave me down here until your prison is done, someone's bound to find me."

"Oh, I know," she sighed. "That's why I have to do this." She stepped over to the control panel by his cell, and for a moment Leo thought she'd been messing with him all along and was about to let him out. Then a hissing noise filled the air and pale gray smoke began to form around his feet.

"What are you doing?" he asked, backing away.

She walked back to stand in his view. "I'm sorry, Leo, but Sebastian gave me his orders. And, to be honest, I see the logic in them." Her lips were pressed into a thin line. "Poisonous gas. You'll be dead in five minutes. Four, if you can't hold your breath."

Leo fell to his knees, gas already burning in his nose and throat. "Tay…"

She did look regretful, if only a little. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, Leo. If it makes a difference, you were always my favorite." She stared at him for a moment, his wide, panicked eyes reflecting in the flickering green of hers. "I'm sorry. Goodbye, Leo."

She walked away, and for the second time that day, Leo's world collapsed into darkness.

* * *

"So, explain this to us again?"

Spin sighed, tapping his fingers against his knee impatiently. "I can remotely deactivate bionic chips. It takes a while, and a _lot_ of focus, but it works. That's how I took down Leo."

"Which you didn't _have_ to do," Sebastian frowned. "If he was coming to confront us, the three of us could have handled him. _One_ of us could have handled him."

"What Sebastian means to say," Lexi interrupted, laying a hand on her cousin's arm, "is thank you. For saving us the trouble."

Spin offered her a small smile. "I want to help you. No one else has my ability, and that combined with my super spin could really help you."

"I don't know," Sebastian replied sarcastically. "I think we were doing just fine before a twelve-year-old offered us help."

"Seb," Lexi said quietly, "I think Spin may have a point. He has a unique power, _and_ the element of surprise. I think this could be good."

Sebastian stared up at the ceiling for a moment, eyes flickering green as he thought. Then he looked back at Spin. "Fine. You're in."

At that moment, Taylor practically materialized in the doorway. "Leo's taken care of. Have we made a decision?"

"He's in," Lexi replied.

"Excellent," Taylor nodded, clapping her hands together once. "Let's get working."

* * *

 **Again: my updating will decrease for the next month or so. I (probably) will still be able to respond to PMs, so that's an option, and if you have any questions or maybe even some guesses as to what will happen later in the story, feel free to message me!**

 **As always, reviews are very much appreciated, and I'll see you all again soon!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey, everyone! I'm finally back from my vacation and I have to say, I'm really glad I'm getting back to this story. I kept thinking about it and you guys, so I just jumped right back to it as soon as the I walked in the front door!**

 **There will be a lot of references to chapters 5 and 6 of this story, and since that was quite a while ago I might suggest going back and reading it again.**

 **Looking at the comments… maybe I should cut down on the oh-no-will-I-really-kill-a-main-character-so-early-in-the-story scares because… well, you know me. Later, maybe, but really not now. Anyway, speaking of comments…**

 **Duck Life: I wouldn't really delay that sort of thing, so you'll find out. And thanks, it was pretty awesome and fun! (I also got to see Spiderman: Homecoming, which I thought was really good.)**

 **Brentinator: Thank you!**

 **TheUnknownBlock: Well, yeah, but I can't find a reason to argue XD I definitely have a dramatic side, so I hope I struck enough of a balance for you to enjoy!**

 **Dirtkid123: You and me both, my friend. It's actually quite a good musical, I cannot lie. And thanks!**

 **Asori: See, you all see through me so well. I'm not above killing a main character, but in general, it's uncommon for that to happen so early in the story unless it's a main plot point (which this clearly isn't). And yeah, you'll get your answers soon enough! Thank you!**

 **PurpleNicole531: Did I really fool someone here? I'm actually a little proud of myself! But short answer, no. And I actually did consider the thing with Taylor, but then decided against it for drama's sake. You were right about Spin's ability, but I've promised myself not to drop hints about Spin's loyalties. You'll all just have to wait and see. Yes, Bree and Chase are still there, though they've been in the background for the last couple of chapters. That's going to change really soon, I promise. Actually, I love long reviews, and yours in particular always offer me a lot of insight and I really appreciate them!**

 **Thanks for those reviews, everyone, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Leo woke with a gasp, hacking and coughing to clear the burning in his throat. Struggling to breathe, he pushed himself onto his hands, trying to stand. Fingers scrabbling at the wall, searching for a grip, he managed to get onto his feet, leaning heavily on the wall's corner.

"You really don't look so good," a voice said.

"Marcus," Leo choked out, instantly recognizing the person. "Get me out of here, _now_."

"Relax, Leo," Marcus replied. "The gas is gone."

Well. Leo had kind of known that, but it had seemed to good to be true. Sucking in a few more wonderfully clean breaths of air—if a little stale—he felt his heart rate start to go down. That was a good sign. "Marcus," he said again, "how long have I been out?"

"About a day, I think." Marcus replied.

"Ow," he muttered. "Okay, the control panel is right there. Can you just… let me out?"

"Hmm, no. Sorry."

The nonchalant tone made Leo look up, startled. "What?"

"Can't let you out. In fact, this isn't even the same prison as you were in before."

Confused, Leo pushed himself forward, stumbling toward Marcus. The second before it happened, he saw it coming, but he couldn't stop in time to prevent it. He smashed into another force field barrier, crashing back to the floor. _Why does everyone have these? I didn't even know they existed until yesterday!_ This one was different, however—it sent what felt like a thousand tendrils of electricity through him, and his vision went black for another moment.

When the spots faded, he was on his back again, ears ringing. "Why?" he mumbled, struggling to shake off the dizzying effects.

"Because," Marcus said, and then he stepped right through the force field. Crouching over Leo, he grinned, lifting a hand as his skin vanished and revealed only silver. "I'm not really Marcus."

* * *

"Guys!" Bree shouted as she sped into the Cortex.

"Bree, the meeting time was ten minutes ago," Chase said. "You're the last one, other than Leo."

"No, no, that's the problem," Bree said hurriedly. "After the whole soldier recall thing yesterday, we were all really busy and in a rush, but then this morning I realized I didn't know where Leo was. I just searched the whole base. He's gone."

"How is that possible?" Sebastian asked, glancing at Taylor.

"The whole base was locked down after everyone was back inside," the Commander replied.

"Well, we missed something then," Bree insisted. "He's gone. I checked _everywhere_ —our room, the dorms, the training room, even the prison! He's _gone_!"

This time, Taylor looked at Sebastian, raising an eyebrow. "I'll go check. Hold on." She was gone in a blur.

"Did you ask Daniel and Marcus if they've seen him?" Chase asked.

"I thought I'd let them sleep," Bree replied. "Adam, you haven't seen him, have you?"

"No," Adam replied, "but like you said, I was pretty busy."

"Logan?" Bree turned to the other teen, the only one who hadn't spoken yet. He shifted uncomfortably but didn't respond.

Chase frowned. "Logan, it's an easy question. You were with Leo yesterday afternoon; you two were working here to monitor the proceedings. What happened to him?"

"Um." Logan grimaced. "That may be a problem. I didn't actually see Leo yesterday."

" _What_?" Bree and Chase chorused.

"Yeah, uh. Taylor told me that Leo was going to help me monitor everything, but he wasn't here when I got here. I assumed he didn't want to see me so he left." Logan awkwardly bit his fingernail as he finished the sentence, shifting in his chair again.

"This is bad," Chase said, voicing everyone's thoughts. "That's really bad."

Taylor sped back in just then, looking at Sebastian again. "He's gone. He's really not here."

"No, I was just making it all up!" Bree shouted sarcastically, frustration leaking into her tone.

Adam let out a little noise of quiet frustration. "I'm so confused," he said.

* * *

"Who are you?" Leo asked, scrambling backwards and onto his feet. "What have you done with my brother?"

"Oh, Marcus Davenport is fine," Marcus—or not-Marcus— replied, straightening back up. "Relatively speaking. As for who I am, I really am Marcus—a perfect copy, at least, excluding the android infrastructure. That structure is designated X-34."

"Why does Giselle need an android copy of my brother?" Leo questioned.

X-34 sighed. "You ask a lot of questions. Too many. You're going to be dead soon enough, though, so I guess I can tell you. My mission was to infiltrate your base and find you. Alive. So I was tracking you, and when I finally found you alone, you were, you know, about to die. I pulled you out of the cell and brought you here."

"Why do you need me?" Leo interrupted.

"I'm _getting_ there," X-34 replied irritably, sounding exactly like Marcus. "You were exposed to a virus not too long ago, in the base Giselle seized from you months ago. She managed to salvage the code that allows for a backtrace of bionic chips. You chip was infected with remnants of that _and_ the code you got rid of, the one that destroys chips."

"She wants to use _me_ to link to the Academy and destroy everyone's chips," Leo realized.

"Yup. And stealing info from your databases won't hurt, either," X-34 grinned. "The plan is coming together. My mother will win this war."

"Your 'mother'?" Leo questioned, scrunching up his nose.

"Well, she's kind of my mom," X-34 argued hastily, more intensely than necessary. Leo just held up his hands in surrender. X-34 gestured outside, and Leo caught a glimpse of another android outside. "X-52 will be keeping watch over you until Giselle is ready for the procedure. In the meantime, I'm off to do stage two."

"Wait!" Leo called as X-34 stepped through the force field. "What's stage two?"

X-34 grinned, glancing back over his shoulder. "Well, let's just say it has to do with everyone you love ending up dead."

* * *

"My algorithm creates teams whose powers complement everyone else's," Chase explained. "It took me a few hours to code it, but it works. So based on your—"

"No one cares, Chase," Adam blurted out, and there were a few murmurs of agreement from their audience of soldiers.

"No offense, Chase, but it's true," Bree added, stepping up in front of him. "Sebastian and Marcus have volunteered to head up the two teams. They'll explain more about the separate locations on the way, but remember: the objective is Leo. He is too important to our cause to lose. Logan will be up in Mission Command, ready to send in recon teams if the leaders activate out the panic alarms."

Chase projected the lists into the air, and there was subsequently a shuffle to stand by the two team leaders.

"Are you sure they'll be okay, Chase?" Bree muttered as Daniel loudly complained that _Aw, I was placed on Sebastian's team instead of Marcus's, can I switch?_ and Adam replied that _Daniel, you_ volunteered _to look and this isn't some sort of capture-the-flag game_. "I mean, we don't even know where Krane's base is. It's a blind search. And the Vickers base is almost entirely uncharted territory."

"Yeah, but Sebastian is trustworthy. If anyone can find Krane's base, it's him. And Taylor, who's going with them. And even though Spin is on that team, he's given the coordinates to Marcus. They'll be fine."

"We're gonna head out now, okay?" Marcus called over the sea of teenager's heads.

Bree flashed a thumbs up, and the room started to empty. "I hope so, Chase. I really hope so."

* * *

"Everything's going according to plan, Seb," Lexi said in a hushed whisper as the group barreled through the woods.

"Yeah, I know, it's _my_ plan," Sebastian replied.

" _Our_ plan," Taylor corrected irritably. "I'm the one who manipulated Chase's ridiculous algorithm to put us all together." Sebastian brushed her off.

"Is there anything I can do?" Spin piped up, keeping up right behind them.

"Sure," Sebastian said easily. "You can stop talking and make sure no one else knows what we're doing." The small boy sulked and slowed his pace so he fell back with the others.

"You don't have to be so mean, cousin," Lexi frowned.

"Sorry, Lex, but he annoys me." Sebastian slowed to a stop, waiting until everyone had halted before speaking. "Everyone, the plan is basically to scour the grounds until we find either Leo or Krane's base—you've all got the Krane memo, right? And the whole 'real life' thing?" Most nodded. "If you don't, you don't listen very well, and go talk to Daniel over there. He's from outside the contained environment. Anyway, we have to assume that Krane captured Leo if we don't find him out here. Just keep your eyes peeled."

"We're literally a five minute walk from the base," Lexi said under her breath to Sebastian.

"I know, but we have to make some detours or they'll get suspicious." He raised his voice to yell, "Okay, running!" As they began to run once again, he added, "Be patient."

Twenty minutes of running later, Sebastian held up a hand, slowing the group down again. "I'm sensing something on my scanners," he invented quickly. "I think there's something cloaked up ahead."

Lexi reached out, and her hand made contact with the shielded door. Remotely punching in the password, the door swung open. "This must be it," she said.

"Everyone inside!" Taylor ordered, stepping in and holding the door open.

Ushering the other soldiers inside, Sebastian closed the door after stepping in himself. Locking it, he glanced at Lexi, who nodded and pulled Spin to her side. "Soldiers!" he shouted, and his group turned to look at him. "Thank you for participating in the search. You are being relieved of your duties." He held out a hand, and Taylor handed him the tablet. "Welcome to the Rebellion, everyone." Sebastian activated the Triton beam, one by one, each person's eyes flickered to green.

* * *

"This is it," Marcus announced as the building came into view. They'd made good time, taking the hover-train and hopping off when they arrived near the coordinates Spin had given.

"We should check the prisons, right?" Kate asked as they approached the door. "Every bad guy has a creepy prison. Leo's there, if he's here."

"An excellent point," Marcus said, trying to open the door. It wouldn't budge. "But we should probably focus on getting the door open." Everyone just stood there for a moment, looking at him blankly. "Any suggestions?" he prompted. When no one answered, he smiled. "That's the answer I was looking for." The door flew open, and in an instant, the group was surrounded by silver androids. Marcus only smiled wider, skin fading away to reveal metal. "I know another way in."

* * *

 **Reviews are, as always, appreciated! I'll update as soon as possible!**


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